Introduction

Mangrove forests are considered one of the most productive and important ecosystems of the biosphere because they provide multiple ecosystemic services ^{(Bouillon, 2011)}. One of the most important functions of the mangroves is that they are pillars of the life cycle of huge biological diversity ^{(Calderón et al., 2009)}, attributed mostly to the large contribution in organic matter that mangroves provide, thus supporting species of commercial importance ^{(Turner, 1991}; ^{Donato et al., 2011}; ^{Sanjurjo Rivera and Campos Palacín, 2011}; ^{Bezaury Creel, 2010)}.

On the other hand, among the uses of the magrove that are not tangible to the human being the exploitation of firewood, wood and carbon have been reported, as well as recreational activities and carbon capture, among others ^{(Hernández Félix, 2012}; ^{Tejeda and Villanueva, 2009)}.

México has 7 645 km² of mangrove coverage, representing 5 % of the world’s mangroves ^{(Rodríguez-Zuñiga et al., 2013)}, showing the largest mangrove coverage in the state of Campeche (194,190 ha), distributed from the Natural Protected Areas of Ría Celestún to Laguna de Términos, with the presence of four species: Rhizophora mangle (L.), Avicennia germinans L. (L.), Laguncularia racemosa (L.) Gaertn f., Conocarpus erectus (L.) ^{(CONABIO, 2009)}. These species are subject to protection through NOM-022/SEMARNAT/2003, NOM-059/SEMARNAT/2010 and ART. 60 TER of the General Law of Ecologic Equilibrium. However, during the period of 1990 to 2010, Campeche registered losses of 15.2 % in total mangrove coverage ^{(Gómez Ramírez, 2013)}, derived from the anthropogenic activities and from the effect of hydrometeorological events.

Authors like ^{Maya and Ramos (2006)} indicate that some ecosystems have been overexploited by the communities when their substenance is based primarily on the extraction of natural resources. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to recognize how the communities carry out the use of the resource.

Within this context, the inclusion of the gender perspective in the socioenvironmental analysis allows us to analyze integrally the relationships between social groups, inside them, and with the ecosystems. Women and men make a differentiated use of the resources as a result of socially assigned roles, so that these relationships become definitive for environmental management and conservation ^{(Ruíz Meza, 2006)}. Therefore, it is decisive to delve into the gender roles and work division, because they create differences in the knowledge of the environment and the effects and strategies of environmental degradation ^{(González García, 2008)}.

In face of this economic and environmental importance that the mangrove presents, as well as its degree of deterioration, we consider it key to inquire about the way in which the mangrove is perceived and used by those who inhabit the area adjacent to the Ría Celestún Biosphere Reserve (Reserva de la Biosfera Ría Celestún, RBRC). Therefore, an analysis was performed from the gender perspective, with the aim of observing how women and men make a differentitated use of the resources from the socially assigned roles ^{(González García, 2008}; ^{Rocheleau et al., 2004}; ^{Agarwal, 1999)}. We consider that identifying the ecosystemic services (ES) that men and women recognize from their daily activities could suggest strategies of conservation and subsistence that will result in the care of natural resources that they have at their disposal.

For the purposes of this study the concept of Ecosystemic Service (ES) was used, as specified by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA)³, where the benefits that people obtain from ecosystemas are classified. These benefits contemplate provision, regulation, support and cultural services ^{(Evaluación de los Ecosistemas del Milenio, 2005)}.

Methods

The methodological perspective from which the information was generated was ethnographic, which allowed performing participant observation, open interviews and semi-structured interviews ^{(LeCompte and Schensul, 2010a)}. This type of methodological approach allows generating information , which ranges from the general to the particular, and is ideal for case studies where there is a research question that does not require measuring the magnitude of a phenomenon, but rather documenting the event studied from the emic perspective (from the stance of those who are involved in the process selected), in addition to placing special emphasis on the context.

This methodological package is useful when a theme is scarcely understood and something needs to be explored that can be delved into or measured later ^{(Le Compte and Schensul, 2010b}; ^{Spradley, 1980}; ^{Pelto and Pelto, 1978)}. On the other hand, this is a holistic method that makes possible obtaining information from various methodological tools, allowing data triangulation, which implies comparing findings generated with observations from those who do field research, and with the evidences provided by different types of key informants^{4 (Bryman, 2001)}.

For the selection of informants, deliberate sampling was used that implies the strategic selection of informants with an in-depth knowledge of the theme to be approached. This type of sampling does not stem from a probabilistic selection of informants, but rather attempts to generate knowledge from cases that are considered relevant for the process studied. A statistically representative sample is not considered, so that its reach does not depend on the size of the community studied, but on the “criterion of theoretical saturation”. This criterion is fulfilled once it is identified that it is not necessary to perform more interviews or observations, that is, when a pattern in the behavior studied is identified, when explanations are repeated, and when no new findings are manifested^{5 (Bryman, 2001)}.

For this study, women and men who participated directly⁶ and indirectly⁷ in fishing were contacted, and who used the mangrove in some way, whether by having mangrove in their backyards or participating in some conservation activity⁸.

A total of 27 interviews were carried out during two stages of field work (Figure 1). In the first part open interviews were performed, and in the second part semi-structured interviews were used. The open interviews allowed the identification of emerging themes, in addition to corroborating the importance of addressing certain aspects while information is generated. The semi-structured interviews had the aim of gathering data missing from the first interview and delving into themes that had not been contemplated during the first phase of the field work.

Photo taken by Lourdes Hernández

Figure 1 Interviewing a fisherwoman in Isla Arena. 

In the first phase of the study 15 people were interviewed: seven women and eight men. The interviews were performed according to the availability of time of the women and men informants, and had an average duration of one hour and 30 minutes. During the second stage 12 interviews were carried out: eight women and four men. The average duration of these interviews was 45 minutes.

As part of participant observation, visits were done to sites of specific interest, such as the rivers El Basurero and El Cojol (Figure 2), the beach in the capture of the spider crab (Libinia dubia), and out at sea, participating in octopus fishing (Octopus maya).

Photo taken by Lourdes Hernández

Figure 2 Fishing in the rivers 

The interviews were transcribed using the transcribe software. Later, the data were analyzed with the support of the ethnographic package Nvivo9 (QSR International), which facilitated the creation of analytical categories. The software allows categorizing into nodes each one of the themes for their later analysis. Each category or node facilitates working with information generated from discourses, searching and grouping patterns, connections or relationships between categories.

Results

Discussion

Wetland ecosystems provide multiple ecosystemic services (ES) that contribute to human wellbeing and to poverty mitigation. The communities that live near the wetlands like mangroves depend on these services and are directly affected when they are degradaded ^{(Calderón et al., 2009)}. Two of the most important ES that benefit human beings directly are fish supply and water provision ^{(Evaluación de los Ecosistemas del Milenio, 2005)}.

Referring to what was mentioned before, in Isla Arena the fish or food supply is the most important ES, for it is directly related to fishing, the main activity in the site. Therefore, the activities and strategies generated revolve around the conservation of fishing resources. However, this service is differentiated by gender, because despite being integrated gradually in the capture of marine species the women are devoted more to the collection or capture of species in the estuary (because they mostly do not go out to sea alone), and the men to fishing different species, preferably marine (they go to the estuary, but they prefer going out to sea). This happens also in other coastal zones, such as Yucatán, where ^{Soares et al. (2011)} indicate that women invest more than 50 % of their time to seasonal fishing, 35 % to domestic and community labor, and the remaining time to rest. In the Philippines, ^{Eder (2012)} identified something similar between the fishing populations, because those that are still devoted to agriculture go to the coast to fish for self-supply or small-scale sale.

These differences in the form of extraction emphasize that the possibility for women to have greater access and control over resources of high commercial value is the result of the tools that they have, the spaces they frequent, and the form of extraction. On the other hand, this difference in access also allows the women to develop strategies that satisfy the needs of the household, attempting to maintain the species that they depend upon for food supply (provision ES).

On the nariñense Pacific coast, the provision ES is also differentiated by gender; women are devoted primarily to collecting piangua clam (Anadara tuberculosa) in the mangrove and the men to the fishing activity; however, in this zone the fishing resource has decreased, so there is a change in role. The men are becoming articulated into the women’s groups that are devoted to the extraction of piangua, adapting and fulfilling the internal rules and regulations of the group, leaving to women the management of the income that this resource generates ^{(Maya and Ramos, 2006)}. This new dynamic emphasizes the importance of the provision service of which women have greater knowledge and the population has had to adapt, changing the traditional gender roles to continue enjoying the benefits from the mangrove.

When it comes to firewood, as one of the benefits generated in coastal zones, ^{Aguilar and Castañeda, (2001)} point out that in this type of ecosystems the women take care daily of firewood collection. However, this is different in Isla Arena, because the sites where this fuel is obtained are across the estuary. This restricts them, since they tend not to be the owner of boats, thus limiting their access.

In this sense the mangrove is considered a rough and dangerous space for women, even more so for obtaining firewood, but without a doubt these limitations in the access are not caused by the roughness of the mangrove, but rather by the lack of necessary equipment and tools, as happens in the case of the ejidatarias in La Solución Somos Todos, in Jalpa de Méndez, Tabasco, who are devoted to the commercial extraction of firewood and mangrove wood. The zones for mangrove extraction where women work are far from the community, but they hire (men) day laborers to carry out the cut and adequate management of the wood; in addition to accompanying their workers, the women are in charge of managing their earnings ^{(Hernández Félix, 2012)}.

This indicates that the use and management of the ecosystemic service of firewood goes beyond the roles that individuals have in each community, but rather also in the series of agreements that each group or community develops. In this regard, ^{Omodei et al. (2004)} documented how local mangrove conservation strategies were generated in the East African coast, despite this resource being used as fuel. On the contrary, ^{Dahdoug Guebas et al. (2000)} found that in Kenya the population stopped using mangrove due to government prohibitions, but they eventually resorted to clandestine cutting, because local conservation strategies had not been generated previously.

Of the regulation services identified by men and women, the one related to the habitat of pollinator species, such as birds, stands out. ^{Sanjurjo et al. (2005)} point out that for México the point of greatest bird observation in the country corresponds to the largest surface of mangroves and marshlands on the Pacific coast. On the other hand, in the RBRC there are 271 species, while in the whole surface occupied by the coastal wetlands in Yucatán, there are approximately 300, of which 30 are resident, 98 migratory, 34 temporary, and seven occasional visitors ^{(Acosta Lugo et al., 2010)}. These data show the importance of this service, its valuation and timely identification by islanders, being surrounded by that much diversity.

The value of the cultural or recreational services of the mangrove will depend on the value that each individual assigns to the service. For the men and women of the island it represents an ecosystem that has been part of their lives since their childhood; however, they have not been able to take advantage of their recreational benefits in a commercial way, beyond fishing. Compared to Isla Arena, in the region of Sarawak, Malaysia, the presence of coastal wetlands represent an income of approximately 420 dollars per hectare of mangrove ^{(Bennet and Reynolds, 1993)}. These figures emphasize the economic value of this ecosystem and question why this exploitation has not been achieved in Isla Arena. This could be due to the geographical situation in which the island is found inside the reserve, since it is shared by two states (Campeche and Yucatán). On the other hand, its proximity to Celestún also makes Isla Arena invisible as a tourism pole and in addition there has not been adequate counseling or the resources to generate tourism infrastructure.

About this, ^{Aburto Oropeza et al. (2008)} point out that these ecosystemic services that mangroves provide are undervalued, leading to bad decision making that does not help to avoid environmental degradation. This takes on higher relevance because it is at a time when food production has important implications for human wellbeing, more so in zones like Isla Arena, where its inhabitants depend primarily on this activity.

Finally, in terms of conservation strategies, the selection of cuttings that men carry out in the mangrove through pruning the trees could be benefitting the ecosystem, particularly in the reproduction of white mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa). When cutting fractions of branches, this species grows buds easily ^{(Moreno and Infante, 2009)}. In turn, ^{Agraz Hernández (1999)} mentions that the use of branches (cuttings) in mangrove restoration programs, using the species L. racemosa, turns out to be a viable technique, where the communities participate, because it presents high vegetative reproduction, easing the management of this biological material, and with an increase in the success of restoration.

The discovery of this type of management as a conservation strategy is important, because traditional knowledge helps to understand the mechanics and the flow from the community with regards to their resources, and contributes to generating better actions focused on the needs and characteristics of men and women. If there is the wish to implement a program for the care of natural resources, it is important to understand the ecosystem a priori, the species, the type of activity, and the time of the year during which the resource is used by the community. This knowledge will have the advantage of generating adequate alternatives that allow conserving without harming the economy of the households, helping to minimize the conflicts that there are around the use and management of resources.

In the Yucatan Peninsula, studies of the use and access to fishing resources from the gender perspective have received higher attention in recent years; by 2000, the participation of women as collectors of marine species was recognized informally ^{(Perea and Flores, 2016)}. However, these advances are not representative, since as reported in the island, the women are becoming increasingly involved in fishing and conservation activities, but this does not indicate that they are attaining labor equity. In this regard, ^{Maya and Ramos (2006)} mention that facing the obligation of satisfying the household needs, the women of the nariñense Pacific coast achieve a better organization in comparison to the men and similar to that of the women in the island; this organization is not implying equity in the access and control of natural resources. These authors point out that as these women satisfy the basic needs of the household and their own, the possibility of creating strategic interests that tend towards conservation grows.

If there is a wish to implement some program for the care of natural resources, it is important to understand the ecosystem a priori, the species, the type of activity, and the season of the year when the resource is used by the community. This knowledge will have the advantage of generating adequate alternatives that allow conserving without harming the household economy, helping to minimize the conflicts there are around the use and management of the resources.

^{Berkes et al. (2000)} highlight the importance of the traditional ecological knowledge and the role of the local communities. These authors stress the daily practices through which the ecosystems and the biological diversity manage to have equilibrium in the flow of their natural resources and the ecosystemic services that they depend on. The strategies identified by men and women are generated from the knowledge that they obtain from their daily activities. This traditional knowledge or practices can be considered of resource management and administration, since inside the communities they look for good management practices, giving opportunity for resources to recover and not deteriorate. These actions tend to be more successful than the policy management practices, for they have functioned for the management and administration of resources throughout generations, and together with adaptative management, they help to face the continuous changes in the ecosystems. In addition, they are a means to improve the possibilities of the groups’ survival, for they do not affect other resources or ecosystems, as it happens with the strategies of policy management, which sometimes mask large projects that in the end create disturbances on the environment because they do not take into account such a complex mosaic where the communities are found.

Conclusions

Based on the results obtained from this study, we conclude that men and women identify the ecosystemic services related to the mangrove in the four categories that the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment suggests. Each group identifies them according to their productive and reproductive activities, so their knowledge is influenced by traditional gender roles. The ES of greatest importance for both groups is that of food provision.

Men and women are benefitted by the ES that the mangrove provides; from the identification of the ES stems the connection there is with this ecosystem. The ES identified through the type of productive and reproductive activity that women and men perform are influencing the conservation strategies, so that women point more towards caring for the services of non-monetary value, such as the diet in subsistence species, and the men towards actions that help caring for fishing as a productive activity.

The fact that women diversify their activities more brings them closer to different scenarios and postures in the management of natural resources that may be used to generate particular conservation strategies in the community. This indicates that it could be the group with highest probability for success in the execution of conservation strategies or programs in the reserve.