  A substantial increase in illegal extraction of the benthic resources in
central Chile is likely driven by an interplay of numerous socio-economic local
factors that threatens the success of the fisheries management areas (MA)
system. To assess this problem, the exploitation state of a commercially
important benthic resource (i.e., keyhole limpet) in the MAs was related with
socio-economic drivers of the small-scale fisheries. The potential drivers of
illegal extraction included rebound effect of fishing effort displacement by
MAs, level of enforcement, distance to surveillance authorities, wave exposure
and land-based access to the MA, and alternative economic activities in the
fishing village. The exploitation state of limpets was assessed by the
proportion of the catch that is below the minimum legal size, with high
proportions indicating a poor state, and by the relative median size of limpets
fished within the MAs in comparison with neighbouring OA areas, with larger
relative sizes in the MA indicating a good state. A Bayesian-Belief Network
approach was adopted to assess the effects of potential drivers of illegal
fishing on the status of the benthic resource in the MAs. Results evidenced the
absence of a direct link between the level of enforcement and the status of the
resource, with other socio-economic (e.g., alternative economic activities in
the village) and context variables (e.g., fishing effort or distance to
surveillance authorities) playing important roles. Scenario analysis explored
variables that are susceptible to be managed, evidencing that BBN is a powerful
approach to explore the role of multiple external drivers, and their impact on
marine resources, in complex small-scale fisheries.
