Banco Chinchorro: the last shelter for black coral in the Mexican Caribbean

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Black coral is an important resource used for jewelry and handicraft. In Mexico, harvesting of these organisms is carried out mainly in the Mexican Caribbean at reefs located in the State of Quintana Roo. This activity provides economic support for authorized fishermen, craftsmen who manufacture the pieces, and merchants who sell the products to tourists. Exploitation of black coral began in the late 1960s off Cozumel Island (20°37'N to 20°17'N), which is located in the northern part of the State of Quintana Roo. At first, collecting was accomplished by snorkeling to depths of about 20 m. The use of SCUBA made access to deeper black coral banks easier, and the fishery expanded rapidly. In the 1980s and early 1990s reported yearly catch rates were between 1000 and 1500 kg of gross product. However, the management of this fishery has been inadequate, mainly due to the lack of scientific studies necessary to establish regulations for its sustainable use. This problem resulted in arbitrary exploitation conditions, which have changed in response to social interests, but without consideration of the exploitation potential of the coral populations. Therefore, the high demand for product in the market caused an overexploitation of black coral in this area. Finally, in 1995 authorities decided to suspend permission to collect black coral in Cozumel, due to the health risk to fishermen, since the colonies of commercial size had been depleted to more than 80 m depth. eng

This situation provoked a crisis in this fishery, and resulted in the search for new collecting sites along the mainland coast. The first place explored was the northern part of the State of Quintana Roo, from Punta Maroma (20°43'N, 86°75'W) to Tulum (20°13'N, 87°34'W). In this area, black coral was exploited only during 1996 because the low densities and small colony size of these populations made this activity unprofitable. For this reason, in 1997 the fishermen requested a new harvesting site in the southern part of the state, from Pulticub (19°06'N, 87°33'W) to Majahual (18°44'N, 87°43'W). In this area the banks of black coral are small and insufficient to cover the assigned quotes of 150 kg mo-¹. In the last three years, new explorations have encouraged fishermen to request an extension of the collecting areas further south every year. At present, the authorized black coral fishery area extends from Pulticub (19°06'N, 87°33'W) to Río Huach (18°23'N, 87°48'W), where an important bank was found. This strategy of constant exploration of new banks of black coral followed by exploitation until depletion, represents a serious problem to this fishery and a risk for black coral as a resource in Quintana Roo. It appears that only the protected areas of the state, Sian Ka'an and Banco Chinchorro, are escaping this hazard. eng

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