Empowering Fishing Communities in the MAR Reef

Now that the fishing communities from La Graciosa Bay, Punta de Manabique Wildlife Refuge, Guatemala, are taking their role as co-managers, they began by identifying action lines that they should work on, in order to empower themselves as resources managers.  The action lines identified were:                     

• Participation of and coordination with key actors in Management Processes
• Human capital formation
• Effective management
• Scientific information for the assessment and monitoring of impacts
• Communication
• Ecosystems connectivity

They are also working in the identification of needs of the protected area and its natural resources.  They have also designed the Action Plan for the fisheries recovery sites and are now socializing it with all the communities before beginning its implementation.

It has been a long and hard way to obtain the official involvement of fishers in the co-management process, but we are walking the right way on achieving the natural resources recovery through the participation of stakeholders, who after all are the main users of this resources.

Do you agree with me?

Thank you very much,

The MAR Fund team

In recognition of the importance of this signing of the fisheries co-management agreement as a first step towards conservation of fishing resources and marine ecosystems, authorities from the Council of Protected Areas (CONAP), the Fisheries Department (DIPESCA) and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) organized an official ceremony for the delivery of the signed agreement on September 18.

These are the first fisheries recovery areas (no take zones) established in Guatemala, and the first co-management agreement signed between authorities and fishermen.  Through this experience, 345 ha (853 acres) are being protected.

CONAP and Fundacion Mario Dary (FUNDARY), an NGO supporting the fishermen in the zone, have been participants in this process since the beginning.  As part of the supportive activities, they started a training process on management of coastal marine protected areas with the fishermen. Among the topics that have been covered to date are: Communication techniques and participatory planning of marine protected areas, and management of marine protected areas.

• FUNDARY has also evaluated the biological indicators in one of the fisheries recovery areas and biomass in the three established areas.  The estimations of biomass among the three fisheries recovery sites vary from 0.001 g/cm2 in two sites to 6 g/cm2 in the third one.
• Two meetings have been held with the three fishing communities of Bahía La Graciosa to design an action plan for the co-management area and the three fisheries recovery sites.
• The training process began with the participation of the fishing communities of Santa Isabel, Punta Gruesa and La Graciosa.

We are very excited that our efforts and your support are gathering together organizations to keep supporting the fishing communities who have just started their new important role as co-managers.