Circuitos espaciales de producción generados por la pesca y el transporte de productos pesqueros en Quintana Roo, México / Spatial networks created by fishing and fishery products transportation in Quintana Roo, Mexico

Abstract

Based on Milton Santos' theoretical approach and using quantitative and qualitative methodologies, this study analyzes the spatial production circuits generated by fishing and the consumption of fish products in Quintana Roo. As a background, it addresses the initial appropriation and exploitation of the Quintana Roo coast by fishing and other activities, now almost monopolized by tourism. Current fishing efforts are focused on live lobsters, caught by a few cooperatives mainly in the central and southern parts of the state, although in the past, sea turtles were the primary commercial species. The revealed spatial circuits show a dense network of spatial relationships, with Cancún-Puerto Juárez acting as the central node at the state level. These circuits have a multiscalar structure, sometimes organized around specific products, scales, and spaces. This is the case for shrimp, whose high demand dominates the national level and explains its supply from Sinaloa and Sonora, and also from Belize. Lobster circuits exhibit the following paradox: while live lobsters caught in the state are sent to the Asian market, local consumption relies on lobster tails from neighboring Yucatán; moreover, in the international lobster circuits Cancún only acts as a collection and intermediary point subordinated to Ensenada. The study exposes how local fishing resources from different spaces are used to meet a growing tourist and international demand, which gives these circuits an extractivist characteristics and compromises the sustainability of these resources.