State Intervention and Abuse of the Commons: Fisheries Development in Baja California Sur, Mexico

Abstract

In many countries worldwide, the logic of the tragedy of the commons model underlies policies concerning the development and conservation of natural resources. In this paper, I use the case of fisheries in Baja California Sur, Mexico to critique the tragedy of the commons model as a metaphor for understanding increasingly abusive patterns of marine resource use. I show how past fishery policies have fomented a tragedy of incursion in two key fishing grounds in Baja California Sur, Laguna San Ignacio and Bahía Magdalena, by encouraging outside encroachment and increasingly widespread resource poaching. Although contemporary efforts to encourage greater private sector involvement in fishery development have exacerbated problems of outside encroachment, they have also opened up new opportunities for inshore fishing communities to reassert control over local resources and promote marine stewardship.