Abstract

Chondracanthus chamissoi is a red macroalgae that sustains one of the most important benthic coastal fisheries in Peru. This zone is characterized by high environmental variability, regulated by seasonal rainfall and ENSO events. The combination of anthropogenic and natural factors strongly influences the sustainability of this fishery. To understand the current state of this resource, which is subject to great extractive pressure and with scarce information about its population dynamics, sustainability indicators that connect the eco-social system of this fishery were selected. This study analyses, for the first time, the most significant factors that determine the population, social, economic, and environmental dynamics of this fishery resource under the DPSIR conceptual framework. The findings showed that the fishery of this macroalgae is currently subsistence fishing. The dynamics of the fishery are driven by internal demand and a marked environmental variability (driving forces). This generates great uncertainty in the fishing effort that faces a strong natural variability of the physical habitat (pressure), which directly impacts on the biomass of the macroalgae (state), with values between 0.05 kg/m2 and 0.83 kg/m2. These variations are reflected in losses of economic income, which exceed 1900 USD/year, and levels of informality which are higher than 50%, which can lead to social conflicts between fishermen (impact). Fisheries governance was found to be feeble (upstream and downstream response), characterized by limited management measures in driving forces, state and impact categories, and with no response in regulating fishing effort pressures. To achieve the transition from informality to the establishment of management plans for C. chamissoi, it is necessary to work together with authorities, specialists, fishers, and stakeholders. It is also necessary to increase the frequency of stock and community assessments, complemented with evaluations of the impact of sedimentation processes (erosion/accretion).