Empowering Fishing Communities in the MAR Reef

To involve local communities from the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) region, an initiative is being implemented for the involvement of local communities in the conservation and restoration of mangrove and coral reefs and promotion of good practices in sustainable fisheries in the Mesoamerican Reef System. This is a joint initiative between the MAR Fund (RRI Reef Rescue Initiative, Regional Network of Community Fisheries, Local Communities), the MAR2R-CCAD Project and Organización del Sector Pesquero y Acuícola del Istmo Centroamericano OSPESCA).

The restoration of public natural assets such as fish stocks and mangrove and coral reef ecosystems is what this initiative seeks, with this support we are developing actions that focus on the restoration of these natural assets, with the participation of different actors, and local communities.

The objectives of this phase are:

• Support and strengthen mangrove and coral reef conservation and restoration efforts in the MAR.
• Strengthen the MAR Sustainable Fisheries Network
• Strengthen the MAR Coral Reef Restoration Network
• Strengthen working alliances between OSPESCA and civil society entities in the MAR region

The development of this initiative has been possible thanks to your involvement, each activity developed takes us closer to the thriving resource we want our future generations to enjoy.

Thank you for your help and for believing in our work.

We´ll keep you posted on how this initiative develops.

Thank you

The MAR Fund Team.

The Sustainable Fisheries Network of the MAR with support from Comunidad y Biodiversidad (COBI), developed a two day webinar with participants from the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) region. The objective of this webinar was to share processes, monitoring technics and results achieved in fish replenishment zones (FRZ) with organizations from the MAR.

It was developed in two days and it was divided into two topics, Underwater Monitoring and Fishery Monitoring. A total of 39 participants were part of the webinar and organizations from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras presented the work they are doing.

The FRZ are areas of the ocean that are protected against all extractive and destructive activities, they help entire ecosystems recover since no activities are allowed within them. By implementing FRZ, we are providing a safe space for species that seek protection in mangroves, coral reefs and sea grasses. With the increased number of organisms within the zone, species spill outside the zone and thus benefit fishers, this is called spillover zones.

It is important to study the impacts these FRZ have on fisheries and a systematic collection of information on one or more species over time, allows us to understand and see changes and measure impact. Underwater monitoring within and outside of a FRZ, allows us to determine which species are present as well as their numbers and size. The monitoring done in landing zones helps us understand the quantity, sizes and gender of the species being fished.

This kind of webinars brings experts and organizations together to share knowledge and results achieved through the monitoring developed. Sharing best practices, what worked and what didn´t, helps strengthen the work done throughout the region.

We must thank you for your support, gathering results and sharing information is some of the things we have been able to do because you trusted in our work.

Thank you for helping us make the MAR region a safe space for species.

The MAR Fund Team.