The name also applies to the adjacent bay between Tiburón Island and Punta San Nicolás, Sonora.

The local indigenous population was widely dispersed in small hunter-gatherer groups ranging from the Guaymas area as far north as present day Puerto Libertad.

The harsh environment of the coastal region dictated that the Comcaac live with a high degree of flexibility and resourcefulness, a characteristic that allowed them to remain free of contact with, and exploitation by, the Spaniards.

It was not until they formed economic bonds out of necessity – probably the need to purchase gasoline for outboard motors used on their small wooden boats during the late 1950s – that they started down the path of social and economic integration into wider Mexican culture (Felger & Moser 1991, Weaver et al. 2003).

The first mestizo settlers in the Bahía de Kino area arrived in the early 1920s to establish a small fishing camp near the site of the present day town.

The establishment of the local Distrito de Colonización Presidente Miguel Alemán between Hermosillo and Bahía de Kino coupled with the recent availability of subterranean water pumping technology allowed for large scale, regional agrarian development.

Felger and Moser report that by 1952 Kino Bay "...was a fishing village with less than a hundred inhabitants, several bars, no school and no electricity."

In 1953, the road to Hermosillo was paved (Bowen 2000) allowing for increased sales of fisheries products and easier access to lucrative state and national markets.

It was hoped that this would generate employment opportunities outside the fishery for Kino residents in the construction and service sectors of the local economy (Wong 1999).

The use of air compressors allowed fishers to operate at greater depths and for longer periods of time, increasing productivity per outing (Doode 1999).

The 1970s saw a dramatic increase in the population of Bahía de Kino during which the town grew from just a few hundred residents to several thousand.

Most had little fishing or boating experience, the developing fishery offered steady employment at a time when many of Mexico's rural ejidos or cooperative farming and ranching communities were suffering economic setbacks and low productivity (Simon 1997).

In 1975, the Mexican government placed a ban on totoaba fishing – the fishery had been decimated, primarily due to over-fishing at spawning grounds at the mouth of the Colorado River (Bahre & Bourillon 2002).

In the late 1970s a plan was proposed to build a marina and marine service center in the nearby Laguna Santa Cruz.

A dock and ramp were constructed, a trailerpark developed and a channel dredged through the barrier bars across the mouth of the laguna.

The dredged channel is still usable by vessels drawing less than 1.5 meters but local knowledge is essential for entry as there are no aids to navigation associated with the canal.

More fishers in more boats operating over an ever-increasing area kept regional production levels in positive growth.

Trapping for crab (Callinectes bellicosus) became an important addition to Kino fishing effort starting about 1990 (Weaver et al. 2003).

It is unclear if Kineño fishers had utilized benthic trapping technology prior to the development of the crab fishery .

It is located on land that was part of the traditional territory of the Comcaac (Seri) people who now live to the north on their communal property.

The historic ramp at the Islandia Marina camp in Kino Viejo has fallen into disrepair and is non-functional.

An unmarked channel allows vessels drawing less than 2 meters easy access to this anchorage from the bay.

The latter refers to the homes, motels, RV parks, and restaurants that line the coast for several miles north-west of Kino Viejo.

Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press Case, Ted J., Martin L. Cody & Exequiel Ezcurra (eds.).

La Pesca de Pequena Escala: Principales obstáculos para su regulación.

Presentado a Conservación International A. C. Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo A. C. Mexico Felger, R. S. and M. B. Moser.