15. Seafood Supply Chain Structure of the Fishing Industry of Yucatan, Mexico

Today’s small-scale fisheries contribute more than half of the total marine fish catch to the world’s fishing industries, but they are facing overexploitation, increases in demand, overcapitalization, and new challenges imposed by fish markets and climate change. This work examines how the Yucatan region’s fishing industry has organized its resources to face new hurdles and maintain its position in the market. The chapter considers a resource-based view perspective and uses a qualitative-exploratory methodology based on interviews with the Yucatan’s leading fishing entrepreneurs. This methodology allowed the study to describe the nature of the main industry processes and relationships which give place and continuity to the fish trade. The main findings show that the ownership of major fishing capital such as vessels, boats, and processing plants is not enough to ensure access to seafood in every season but rather suggests that what is needed is the development of different levels of relations which are long term and seasonal in nature across different supply chain members (fishers, middlemen, and skippers). Furthermore, firm owners’ ability to organize fishing effort according to the fish available each season and to link with traders and suppliers according to market demand has been a key resource to maintain this industry in the market. Finally, the chapter shows how small-scale fisheries are part of an important supply chain for large processing plants and make a key contribution to their existence and continuity in the market. At the same time, small producers’ participation in the market is limited and controlled by these fishing businesses.