Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography have completed a new study that could have far-ranging implications for the sustainable future of marine wildlife in Northwest Mexico. The study, which analyzed data from local fisheries in that region, was published recently in the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea’s (ICES) Journal of Marine Science. The scientists, led by Scripps postdoctoral researcher Brad Erisman, detected patterns between the geography of the species and their habitats in the region, accounts for more than 60 percent of fishing production in Mexico. In doing so, the researchers were able to create five clearly-defined sub-regions, differentiating between: areas rich in mangroves versus rocky shores, reefs versus soft-sea bottoms and temperate versus tropical regions. While fisheries in Northwest Mexico are currently managed as one homogeneous area, researchers said these sub-regions could be crucial for implementing specific, customized fishing and conservation practices, including so-called “ecosystem-based management” approaches. “This gives us a framework to operate both fisheries management and conservation priorities within the same region and on the same spatial scale, thus meeting criteria for maintaining healthy ecosystems and also for maintaining economic livelihoods and productive fisheries,” Erisman said in a recent statement. For the idea to be effective, however, the researchers said large-scale industrial fishing activities in Northwest Mexico would have to be curtailed. In addition, they said customized sub-regions could help other areas of the world that are threatened by shrinking fisheries resources.