对加利福尼亚湾的一项新研究得出结论说海岸红树林对于幼年水生生物的生存至关重要，因此也对渔业的健康和渔民的经济福利至关重要。东太平洋海岸红树林的最北端在加利福尼亚湾，红树林繁茂的根系钻入海洋的潮汐区域，成为了鱼和蟹的苗床。然而，近年来旅游胜地和虾场侵入了红树林的领地，砍伐掉树木建立了海滩和池塘。
为了分析这些发展是否会破坏墨西哥的渔业，Octavio Aburto-Oropeza及其同事比较了加利福尼亚湾的13个区域的渔业产量。这组科学家发现捕鱼量与红树林海岸线的长度直接成比例，而独立于其它变量，例如纬度和河口尺寸。在对红树林海岸线的货币价值进行评估后，他们得出了每公顷每年价值37500美元的数字，而总的长期价值是墨西哥政府所确定的价值的600多倍。这组作者说，随着世界渔业的衰退，这一价值可能增加。相关论文发表在美国《国家科学院院刊》（PNAS）上。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
PNAS，doi: 10.1073/pnas.0804601105，Octavio Aburto-Oropeza，Enric Sala
Mangroves in the Gulf of California increase fishery yields
Octavio Aburto-Oropeza*,†,‡, Exequiel Ezcurra§, Gustavo Danemann¶, Víctor Valdez¶, Jason Murray‖, and Enric Sala*,**
+Author Affiliations
*Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0202;
†Departamento de Biología Marina, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, Carretera al Sur Km 5.5, La Paz, Baja California Sur, CP 23081, México;
§San Diego Natural History Museum, P.O. Box 121390, San Diego, CA 92112-1390;
¶Marine Conservation and Sustainable Fisheries Program, Pronatura Noroeste A.C., Calle Décima No. 60, Zona Centro, Ensenada, Baja California, CP 22800, México;
‖Department of Economics, Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29201; and
**Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes, 17300 Blanes, Spain
Communicated by Rodolfo Dirzo, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, May 12, 2008 (received for review August 27, 2007)
Abstract
Mangroves are disappearing rapidly worldwide despite their well documented biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide. Failure to link ecological processes and their societal benefits has favored highly destructive aquaculture and tourism developments that threaten mangroves and result in costly “externalities.” Specifically, the potentially irreparable damage to fisheries because of mangrove loss has been belittled and is greatly underestimated. Here, we show that, in the Gulf of California, fisheries landings are positively related to the local abundance of mangroves and, in particular, to the productive area in the mangrove–water fringe that is used as nursery and/or feeding grounds by many commercial species. Mangrove-related fish and crab species account for 32% of the small-scale fisheries landings in the region. The annual economic median value of these fisheries is US $37,500 per hectare of mangrove fringe, falling within the higher end of values previously calculated worldwide for all mangrove services together. The ten-year discounted value of one hectare of fringe is >300 times the official cost set by the Mexican government. The destruction of mangroves has a strong economic impact on local fishing communities and on food production in the region. Our valuation of the services provided by mangroves may prove useful in making appropriate decisions for a more efficient and sustainable use of wetlands.
