Empowering Fishing Communities in the MAR Reef

Within the framework of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI) meeting in Merida Yucatan, Mexico carried out in November 2017, The Mesoamerican Reef Fund (MAR Fund), the Fondo Mexicano para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (FMCN) and Rare Conservation organized a side event to lay the foundations for the creation of the Mesoamerican Reef Sustainable Fisheries Network (MAR-SFNet).

Derived from the side event, MAR Fund and FMCN developed a follow up meeting in November 2018 to consolidate the network to promote and support the sustainability of fisheries, especially small-scale fisheries, in the MAR region. Since its consolidation, the MAR-SFNet, formed by civil society organizations, community organizations, academic institutions and fishing cooperatives from the four countries (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras) of the MAR currently working in fisheries, have gathered to follow up on their indicators, marketing, legal framework, capacity building, strategic communication, financial sustainability and their work plan.

This initiative has generated a strategic document that maps and analyzes key actors, projects and organizations that work in the small-scale fishing sector in the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR). This document presents information about priorities, opportunities, limitations and threats that the fishing sector faces and it also provides trustworthy data to support and inform the Network’s next steps with a regional and multilevel approach.

Thanks to your support, we were able to strengthen the Network, in collaboration with funds from the Integrated Reef to Ridge Management of the Mesoamerican Reef Ecoregion” Project (MAR2R-CCAD/WWF-GEF), and the general assembly in August 2022 was developed. The objective of this meeting was to carry out the updating and appointment of the new Executive Committee (2022 – 2024) of the Network, share the activities the Network has been developing, lessons learnt from 2021 and the plan for the up-coming years.

We will keep you posted on the activities and results achieved by the Network.

Thank you for your support.

The MAR Fund Team

As promised, results have been achieved through the MAR Fish “Knowledge, monitoring and protection of Mesoamerican Reef’s Fish Spawning Aggregations”, a four-country project monitoring the first regional spawning network in the Mesoamerican Reef region.

To maintain fish populations and the protection of Fish Spawning Aggregations (FSAs), temporary gatherings of fish that come together for reproduction, is what this project seeks. The focus area includes “Cayman Crown” (known by local Guatemalan fishermen and new to science since 2013) an extremely healthy reef straddling the maritime border between Guatemala and Belize, which likely includes Guatemala’s only multi-species FSA. Below you will find some of the results achieved up to date:

• Healthy Reefs Initiative (HRI), in collaboration with Sam Purkis Partnership Inc, developed the habitat maps for Cayman Crown area.
• The Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE) from Belize and Fundación para el Ecodesarrollo y la Conservación (FUNDAECO) from Guatemala, continue working towards the protection and management of the reef through bi-national collaboration;
• HRI and Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) conducted training sessions on reef health monitoring using AGRRA. A total of 51 participants completed the course.
• Two additional sites were incorporated in the network in 2020: Sandy Bay in Honduras, monitored by Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL), and Emily in Belize, monitored by the Belize Fisheries Department (BFD). Other sites have been incorporated in Mexico and Honduras in 2021: Blanquizal and San Juan in Mexico, monitored by COBI, and a new site that hasn't been named yet in Honduras, monitored by CORAL.
• HRI conducted reef health monitoring near sentinel sites in the four Mesoamerican reef (MAR) countries.
• A workshop for fishers in the three countries of the Gulf of Honduras (GoH): Belize, Guatemala and Honduras was developed and representatives of fishing communities were selected to establish a Tri-national Committee to enable the development of collaborative actions to protect natural resources within the Cayman Crown, while supporting local livelihoods.

Through this project we continue to develop actions that focus on the management of the FSA, with the participation of different actors and local communities.

Each activity developed takes us closer to the network of FSA the region needs.

Thank you for your help in protecting the Mesoamerican Reef.

The MAR Fund Team