He San Matías Gulf is for scientific researchers a “socioecosistema”: It has natural and social components. It is like a “basin” with salt water, animal species ranging from whales to dolphins and humans who use the resources, through fishing, navigation or tourism.
It is a semi-closed basin of approximately 19,700 square kilometers with maximum depths of around 200 meters.
The Rio declaration with its Agenda 21, in 1992, emphasized the concept of sustainability and sustainable development, recalled the authors of the identification guide for Marine mammals of the San Matías Gulf. Some years later, the Biodiversity Convention placed the concept of “ecosystem” as a pillar in the principles for environmental managementl.
Through this approach, it seeks to develop a strategy for the integrated management of land, water, and living resources, which promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable manner. In this way, the human population is integrated as part of the ecosystem and not as a simple observer.
For the team of researchers who published the guide, “The marine mammals that inhabit the ecosystem of the San Matías Gulf represent part of its biodiversity, and interact with fishing activity, since they can compete for resources or influence the abundance of some species of interest to fisheries.”
Also the same mammals are used as resources by the tourist activity. Therefore, they are part of this complex network of interactions of the “socio-ecosystem”.
Common and dusky dolphins along with several species of seabirds feed mainly on anchovies, and sea lions have hake as an important part of their diet..
Therefore, fishing can have effects on the ecosystem, scientists warned. If the number of anchovies or hake is reduced, it can have a direct or indirect impact on the rest of the components, such as birds, dolphins and sea lions, and in turn on tourist activity.