Empowering Fishing Communities in the MAR Reef

As you all know our project “Empowering Fishing Communities in the MAR Reef” was selected by the Project of the Month Club as the project of the month of June. In follow up to this, we are going to work with National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP) and help local fishermen in the Punta de Manabique Wildlife Refuge (RVSPM) in Guatemala consolidate their fish replenishment zones. We will revalidate the cooperation agreement for the protection and sustainable use of hydro-biological resources, agreement that established and protected the three fish replenishment zones in 2012.

Through this support we´ll be able to strengthen the extension and actions to comply with the II Agreement between CONAP and the La Graciosa, Punta Gruesa and Laguna Santa Isabel communities for the administration, management and sustainable use of the RVSPM fish replenishment zones.

The objectives of this phase are:

• Strengthen the biological monitoring of the fishing resource to know the current status of the RVSPM fish replenishment zones.
• Generate a new anchoring system for the signaling and delimitation of the zones.
• Perform the validation and signing of the II Cooperation Agreement between CONAP and the La Graciosa, Punta Gruesa and Laguna Santa Isabel Communities, for the conservation of the natural resources of the Protected Area.

The assistance for this initiative has been possible thanks to your support and your desire to help us achieve our goals.

You are part of this process, your help and confidence on us, pushes us to aim higher. Together we will be able to educate our communities in the importance of managing our resources in a sustainable way.

We will keep you posted on any progress achieved through this support.

Thank you

The MAR Fund Team

We wanted to share with all of you that our project “Empowering Fishing Communities in the MAR Reef” has been selected by the Project of the Month Club.

We believe in working hand in hand with fishing communities. This wonderful opportunity granted by the Project of the Month Club will help local fishermen in the Punta de Manabique Wildlife Refuge in Guatemala consolidate their fish replenishment zones. They will be able to revalidate the cooperation agreement for the protection and sustainable use of hydro-biological resources, agreement that established and protected the three fish replenishment zones in 2012. The agreement involves three communities -Santa Isabel, La Graciosa, and Punta Negra- that experienced the loss of fish stocks and wanted to do something about it. With the help of the National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP), the fish replenishment zones were established and have been monitored since 2016. Now, the communities must revalidate the initial agreement with CONAP. Upon completing this requirement, the replenishment zones will continue to operate as no-take zones for an additional two-year period and continues monitoring will be developed.

It is key to these communities' food security that the fish replenishment zones continue to be managed as such. Monitoring results indicate that fish have begun to come back, comparing the quantity registered in the monitoring done in 2016, which showed a presence of 34 organisms, with the monitoring done in 2017 that registered a total of 352 organisms, proved a surge in fish stock within the zones. The increase of fish with economic and commercial importance for the communities has also been monitored, with a surge of bass (Centropomus undecimalis) from zero to 46 throughout this two year period and mackerel (Caranx hipos) from 14 to 62, among other species.

Thank you all for being part of this journey with us, all we have achieved has been thanks to your support.

We look forward to helping the Punta de Manabique communities continue with their effort to recover their fisheries. We´ll keep you posted.

Thank you

From the MAR Fund Team.