Quantifying the Economic Potential of Small-Scale Fisheries through Better Management in the Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica

We focused our analysis in the upper Gulf of Nicoya, which has historically been a priority target for management interventions. This area serves as the main fishing ground for over 20 fishers associations and as a nursery area for several commercially important species.

To pilot our analysis, we selected an economically and culturally important fishery as a case study for the area, the corvina reina (Cynoscion albus). This fishery is the most important single-species finfish fishery in the upper Gulf, accounting for 51% of the catch in this region. It is caught with gillnet, handline and bottom longline.