In Bahía Kino, Sonora, a place aggravated by the "tragedy of the commons", we worked with a group of residents and fishers who want to stop this misfortune. The term "tragedy of the commons" was coined at the end of the 1960s and has helped to better understand the phenomenon driving societies to deplete their natural assets rapidly and uncontrollably. When people or communities lack ownership rights on their natural resources, they also lack a sense of responsibility toward their sustainable use. Bahía Kino may be one of Mexico's more complex areas where high-seas fisheries, small-scale fisheries, and a significant low-income population migrating to the coast all converge to exert excessive pressure upon natural resources.

By organizing a committee of residents and supporting the management of pen-shell fishery, a key mollusk for the local economy, we are working collectively with the community to design more democratic and fair access plans, wherein access rights are more clearly allocated. The outcomes and models from this community will not only be important for the Kino Bay population, but for all of Mexico. They will prove whether or not community participation plays a role to alleviate the consequences of the tragedy of having open access resources. If not, it will provide us with insights into new options to find solutions for this ongoing global problem.

Local article about the proposal for an efficient callo de hacha fishing (spanish).