USAID PROGRAM FOR
THE MANAGEMENT OF
AQUATIC RESOURCES
AND ECONOMIC
ALTERNATIVES
March 2012
This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International
Development. It was prepared by Steve Box, Centre for Marine Ecology, Honduras
THE ARTISANAL
FISHERIES OF THE
HONDURAN
CARIBBEAN:
DISENTANGLING COMPLEX LOCAL FISHERIES TO IDENTIFY
MANAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
3
CONTENTS
Contents
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 8
METHODS .......................................................................................................... 10
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION............................................................................ 12
Legal framework .............................................................................................. 12
Fishing communities along the north coast of Honduras .................................... 14
Omoa and Puerto Cortés ................................................................................ 14
Tela Bay .......................................................................................................... 18
El Porvenir and Esparta .................................................................................. 20
East of La Ceiba .............................................................................................. 22
Fishing communities in Balfate, Colón ......................................................... 24
The Bay Islands .................................................................................................. 24
Guanaja ....................................................................................................... 26
Roatan ......................................................................................................... 27
Market chains for western Roatán Fishers................................................... 28
Communities east of Roatan........................................................................ 30
Santa Helena ............................................................................................... 32
Utila artisanal landings ................................................................................. 34
Market chains from Utila .............................................................................. 38
Recommendations .............................................................................................. 41
4
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
SUMMARY
The north shore of Honduras that stretches between the Gulf of Honduras in the
west to the wetland forests of the Moskitia region in the east encompasses a
range of coastal habitats that support diverse near shore fisheries.
In this study we assess the current status of artisanal fisheries across the north
shore of Honduras, conducting site visits in more than 40 communities. In
addition we developed and piloted a fisheries monitoring mechanism for
community based artisanal and small scale fishers. This data base enables the
collection, collation and analysis of fisheries data from artisanal fisheries and
provides a tool for the monitoring of these important coastal resources.
The development and diversification of fisheries across this region has been
driven by three main factors; the range of exposure of the coast to summer trade
winds and winter storms; the accessibility of sheltered lagoons; and the
availability of alternative employment opportunities. Overall we found that
artisanal fishing has decreased in importance significantly over the last decade.
Through rising costs and falling catches, many fishers have left the fishery and
across the north shore, between Omoa and Trujillo and including the Bay Islands
we estimate that there are now less than twelve hundred full or part time artisanal
fishers. However, artisanal fishing still provides an important security mechanism
for local communities with people returning to fish when they cannot find
employment elsewhere. As such the true number of people that depend on these
resources during some point of the year, but do not count themselves as full time
fishermen, may be many orders of magnitude higher. By contrast the Moskitia,
which was not explicitly included in this scope of work may contain as many as
14,000 artisanal fishers and 4000 people dependent on the industrial fishers and
should be the focus of further and extensive fisheries work.
In areas in the centre of the north shore from Tela bay to Cuero y Salado, where
sand banks and mangrove forests have enclosed large lagoon systems,
communities have traditionally relied on this sheltered environment to target
brackish water fish such as snook (Centropomus spp. - Róbalo), for both
subsistence and small scale commerce. Mainly employing small craft, powered
by small engines or oars, fishers rarely ventured into the open sea as their
vessels could only cope with slight wind and small waves.
A lack of effective management of these lagoon fisheries has meant that these
systems have become overexploited, with fishers either leaving the fishery for
other employment or having to invest in larger boats to fish in the sea. As lagoon
fisheries continue to decline and in the absence of effective management of
these areas, there is a continued transfer of effort to near shore marine fisheries
including vulnerable species of grouper and snapper. Artisanal fishing plans for
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
5
these areas need to focus on recuperating the fisheries of the lagoons and
integrating their seasonal use with the use of near shore marine fisheries. The
objective should be to diversify targets and diffuse effort between these adjacent
fisheries under a marine and coastal management framework that appreciates
the connectivity between lagoons and coastal areas both ecologically and
through their exploitation.
In the west of Honduras in the Gulf of Honduras, around Omoa and Puerto
Cortes the sea is less exposed and there are fewer lagoon systems. Here,
artisanal fishers can be disaggregated into four types. Firstly there are near
shore fishermen who use nets over soft bottom habitats to target small pelagic
species. These fishers tend to be those from poorer households with small boats
and a limited range. Fishers generally originate from communities closer to
Guatemala where the coastal fringe has soft sedimentary bottoms and does not
have reefs. These fishers are highly vulnerable to seasonal changes in fish
abundance and market prices as they have very limited access to other marine
resources.
Secondly in this area there are fishers that use hook and lines over rocky reef
areas to target seasonal abundances of shallow water grouper, snapper and reef
associated species. These same fishers also troll for the seasonal movements of
pelagic species such as mackerel, wahoo and jacks. These fishers tend to have
slightly higher incomes with larger boats and are more resilient to change as they
target a diverse set of species.
Thirdly there is a set of fishers which fish illegally in southern Belize. These
fishers do not own their own boats and instead fish for the boat owner being paid
with a share of the catch. These fishers use larger boats and more powerful
engines. The larger running costs associated with these boats means that fishers
must catch larger quantities of high value fish and so there is a strong driver to
target the fish stocks in southern Belize. The main targets are yellowtail snapper
as well as the yellow fin grouper and Nassau grouper aggregations. These illegal
activities create an important source of international tension in the region, but
whilst it is the fishers themselves who commonly get blamed, the actual driving
force perpetuating this fishery are the boat owners who also own the market
stalls buying the fish in Puerto Cortes. Enforcement attention should focus on
these individuals rather than simply persecuting the hired fishermen.
Finally there are a small group of fishermen in communities around the mouth of
the Rio Ulua who fish using long lines and harpoons specifically targeting pelagic
fish species including sharks, tarpon and jacks. These fishers have a peak
fishing season in the build-up to lent and are highly dependent on these fisheries.
The unique location of deep water adjacent to the mouth of a sediment laden
river means that many pelagic predators come to this area and it could be a site
of special scientific interest specifically for sharks.
6
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
Beyond the north shore, the final type of artisanal fisheries are those connected
to coral reef systems, from the Bay Islands, Cayos cochinos and the north shore
communities around La Ceiba. These fishers generally use hook and lines,
although some employ spears, traps and nets, to target a mixed assemblage of
reef fish species.
The fishers based from the Bay Islands connect to those of the north shore and it
is important to integrate the management of the bay islands fisheries with those
of the northern coast. In addition, there is evidence that the extensive
management of fisheries in Cayos cochinos has displaced fishers to Utila where
there is no management. This has effectively shifted fishing pressure westwards
putting pressure on the reef banks north of Tela, which is where fishers based
form Utila generally fish.
The triangle of fishing banks enclosed between Utila in the north, Tela in the west
and Cayos cochinos in the east is a central area of increasing fishing pressure
and spatial conflict. As the traditional lagoon fishermen from Tela and Cuero y
Salado increasingly move off shore from their coastal communities, they are
overlapping with fishers from Utila who are expanding their ranges south. At the
same time fishers from Cayos Cochinos and the north shore communities under
the management plan are displaced westwards to overlap with the other twp
groups. In all of the north shore it is this area that needs to be a central focus for
integrated management of the areas artisanal fisheries as it is these fishing
banks and the yellowtail snapper, grouper, jacks and other reef fish which
underpin the livelihoods for majority of the artisanal fishers of the north shore.
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
7
INTRODUCTION
Artisanal fishing in Honduras is defined by the General Fishing Law (1959) as
“the activity that fishermen perform individually or organized in cooperatives or
associations within three nautical miles of the coast, using boats with a capacity
below three tons and employing basic fishing gear with the purpose of providing
an economic benefit to the fishers”.
Artisanal fishing communities stretch across the north shore of Honduras which
for this study encompasses the area from the frontier with Guatemala in the west,
to Trujillo in the east, also incorporating the three main Bay Islands and Cayos
Cochinos.
Since the definition of artisanal fishing was written in 1959, artisanal fisheries
have evolved and diversified across this area to use a range of craft and a
plethora of different fishing techniques targeting a suite of different marine and
estuarine species. Recent technological innovation and the gradual
modernization of the Honduran artisanal fisheries has enabled fishermen to
range further from their home communities and increase their fishing
effectiveness, with many shifting from subsistence fishers to small scale fisheries
well connected to local, regional and in some instances international markets.
The decentralized nature of artisanal fisheries, the range of fishing gears utilised,
the multiple species targeted, and the fragmented market chains for a range of
fish products means that these fisheries pose a significant challenge for
sustainable management. The gradual modernization of these fisheries presents
additional challenges because of increasing spatial and technological competition
at multiple scales.
At a local level, fishermen with better boats and larger engines can extend their
range beyond traditional boundaries often bringing them in to competition with
neighbouring communities. The increased costs associated with improved fishing
power often mean that fishers also need to adopt unselective fishing gears to
maintain catch volume. Replacing selectivity with volume ultimately impacts the
sustainability of the fisheries at a larger scale, pushing fishers to further extend
their range, bringing them in to even greater contact with fishers from
neighbouring areas. In this negative spiral of inter-fisher competition ultimately
more fishers are driven to utilise similar, unselective, unsustainable, fishing
techniques. Those without the capital to invest simply leave the fishery. At a
regional level, these same trends in unrestricted fishing activity are demonstrated
by fishermen crossing national boundaries, poaching fish from the territorial
waters of other countries, increasing international tensions.
8
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
The World Bank (2006) identified six major causes for unsustainable fisheries
around the world being: the existence of inappropriate incentives for sustainable
management; a high demand for limited resources; poverty and lack of
alternatives; complexity and inadequate knowledge; lack of governance; and
interactions of the fishery sector and other sectors with environmental
degradation.
Understanding which of these drivers is pushing unsustainable fisheries in
Honduras especially amongst the artisanal fleet is crucial to be able to develop
viable management of these important natural resources. Secondly, decreasing
the impacts of artisanal fisheries is emerging as a priority for marine
conservation, but this important goal is hampered by the growing human
population in coastal areas resulting in increasing dependence of extractive uses
of marine resources.
In Honduras there are increasing signs of overexploitation in many important fish
stocks and it is clear that Honduran fisheries although renewable are not infinite.
Effective fisheries management is urgently needed if the contribution of this
sector to the nutritional, economic and social framework of the country is to be
sustained. Despite the role of small-scale fisheries in both structuring local
economies and directly impacting the abundance and distribution of marine life
their activities have often been ignored by standard fisheries management
frameworks which have traditionally focused on controlling industrial fishing.
Yet, if properly managed, small scale fisheries can have greater economic
efficiency, cause fewer negative impacts on the environment, and facilitate the
decentralization and distribution of economic and social benefits of resource use
to a larger geographic area and in a more equitable manner. As such the
development of sustainable management strategies for artisanal fisheries is
urgent, both from an ecological and a social economic perspective.
The first step in developing effective management is to establish reliable data
with which to develop these plans. In this study we first evaluated the fisheries of
northern Honduras to develop a baseline knowledge of the different fishing
communities of the area. Secondly we developed and piloted a data collection
system for small scale fisheries that can be used to provide accurate fishing data
from discrete fishing communities.
Through site visits, fisher interviews, observations and the landing data sets we
compile a suite of information on the current status of artisanal fishing in the
Honduran Caribbean. The overarching aim of the study is to provide information
with which to disentangle the complexity of artisanal fisheries and to identify
approaches that can assist in their sustainable management.
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
9
Ultimately, the objective is to identify how we can target policy and enforcement
efforts to priority areas whilst building up an integrated artisanal fisheries
management strategy for the north shore and islands of Honduras.
This study aims to:
1. Review the existing legal framework and management of artisanal fishing;
2. Provide a general description of fishing communities along the north coast
of Honduras;
3. Develop a characterization of the fishing methods, the fishing grounds
and fishing sites;
4. Identify current issues and conflict points in artisanal fisheries;
5. Provide a database and example of high resolution landing data collected
from a key fishing community:
6. Develop management recommendations to enhance the sustainability of
artisanal fisheries across the north coast of Honduras.
METHODS
During this study, forty communities on the north coast of Honduras were visited
to assess artisanal fishing activities. Despite many actors agreeing there is a lack
of information to take management decisions, there is a general feeling within
fishing communities that they have been questioned enough through surveys and
interviews. The shortfall between what has been collected by academic studies
and what is publicly available information means that the communities are tired of
being questioned, but the ecology and economics of the actual fishery on which
they depend remains poorly understood.
We aimed to fill this gap by using non direct questioning techniques including
participative exercises with groups of fishers to produce seasonal calendars, and
mapping of the fishing areas and market chains. General information about the
community and more specific knowledge about fishing related topics were
obtained through informal conversations with local actors such as presidents of
Patronatos1, in addition to the available public records in the municipalities.
Secondly we developed a mechanism to collect daily landing data to measure
change in the ecology and economics of the fishery through a pilot system
established in one of the principal artisanal fishing community on the north shore.
In the community of the Utila cays we trained a local fisherman’s wife to collect
1
Patronatos are community organizations, found also in the neighbourhoods of cities that deal with
community development.
10
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
landing data from all boats that landed fish at the main fish buyers. The data
included details of the catch weight by species as well as a sub set of length
measurements. In addition data on the location, time, gear and costs of fishing
(fuel ice oil etc) were recorded. The data was compiled in notebooks and then
transferred to a specially designed database. This database provided a simple
user interface to provide general catch statistics2.
This report divides the north coast of Honduras into six main geographic regions:
Omoa and Puerto Cortés; Tela Bay; El Porvenir and Esparta; La Ceiba; Cayos
cochinos; The Bay Islands. The area east of Trujillo in the Department of Colon
was only partially covered, because of the on-going and serious security risks
caused by land conflicts and drug trafficking of visiting that area to conduct
fieldwork.
2
The database has subsequently evolved to an online system through a free web portal at
www.ourfish.org
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
11
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Legal framework
The north coast of Honduras has rich natural resources including extensive
areas of mangroves with interconnected estuaries and lagoons, off shore coral
reef banks and the fringing reefs and sea grass areas of the Bay Islands and
Cayos Cochinos. In addition to the main cities of La Ceiba, Puerto Cortez and
Trujillo an estimated fifty small communities dot the north coast across the
departments of Cortes, Atlantida, Colon and the Bay Islands, ranging in
population from less than 100 to more than 10,000 people.
It has been suggested by fishers and Fisheries Department’s (DIGEPESCA)
officials that across the area artisanal fisheries are in decline; the main reason
being overfishing. At the same time, according to the Artisanal Fisheries official
of DIGEPESCA (Pers comm Suazo 2011), overfishing has been an outcome of
poor institutional capacities to enforce the existing regulations and the lack of a
legal framework regulating the access to artisanal fishing.
Fisheries regulation in Honduras is shared by two governmental agencies: the
directorate of fisheries DIGEPESCA under the Secretariat of Agriculture and
Ranching (SAG) and the Forestry Conservation Institute (ICF) which is in charge
of the management of protected areas. DIGEPESCA is the primary agency in
charge of fisheries regulation. The head office in Tegucigalpa is assisted by
regional offices located in Puerto Cortés, Tela, La Ceiba, Roatán, Guanaja and
Puerto Lempira. These regional offices mainly conduct licensing activities whilst
enforcement of regulations is predominantly carried out by the Navy (Fuerza
Naval) or local nongovernmental organisations who aim to enforce fishing
restrictions related to gears, closed seasons, and protected species.
Specific regulations for resource use are defined within the General Fishing Law
(Ley General de Pesca 1959). Across the north shore the most widely
implemented restrictions are the seasonal closures of the lagoons and gear
restrictions, although enforcement of both of these regulations is sparse and
patchy. There are no quota limits for any species for artisanal fisheries. The
gears that are not permitted across the north shore include: the harpoon,
dynamite, poison to kill the fish and nets with a mesh size below three inches.
The species that are not allowed to catch are: any type of shark, manatee, conch
and sea turtle.
The ICF (Institute of Forestry’s Conservation) is in charge of establishing
terrestrial and marine protected areas throughout Honduras. The management is
12
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
conducted under an agreement of co-management with non-governmental
organisations. While with the industrial fishing sector, both access and resource
use is regulated through specific licensing systems, in the artisanal fisheries
access is open. There is meant to be a licensing system in place for all artisanal
fishers, however this has not been completed by DIGEPESCA and there is no
registry of active artisanal fishers for the north coast of Honduras.
Marine protected areas are a relatively recent way to manage marine resources
in Honduras, but are the only management tool used to regulate access to
marine resources. Both resources and personnel are often in short supply for
appropriate enforcement of designated areas and much of the area under
designated protection remains without effective management. The two main
instruments therefore to regulate artisanal fishing activities in Honduras are the
regulation of fishing gear through legislation and marine protected areas, yet
there has been little systematic monitoring of the efficacy of these policies in
benefiting the sustainability of marine resources and their usage.
It is of noteworthy that the issuing of artisanal fishing permits which grant
territorial rights is included in the original fisheries law of 1959. However to date
this important legal tool has not been applied to segregate local fisheries. In the
Honduran legislation, the General Fisheries Law (GFL 1959) enacted in 2001,
suggests territorial rights for artisanal fishing communities, through their legally
constituted organizations (e.g., artisanal fishermen’s associations and
fishermen’s cooperatives, among others). In the first fishing law (Ley de Pesca
154-1959 Decreto No.) fishing cooperatives had territorial rights where more
than half its associates inscribed lived (See Error! Reference source not
found.). However, this has not been enforced. Permits that grant exclusive use
rights within a specific area are not being used at the moment by DIGEPESCA
as a management mechanism.
Overall there is little governance of artisanal fisheries across the north shore of
Honduras despite the legal framework providing the potential for effective
management to occur. There is significant room for improvement the
management of this sector, potentially by empowering fishermen to lead the
management process by linking access rights to responsible fishing actions. This
concept provides a direct incentive for good behaviour because the benefits of
an improved fishery are received by the same groups that practice sustainable
fishing.
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
13
Fishing communities along the north coast of Honduras
Omoa and Puerto Cortés
Omoa and Puerto Cortés are two coastal districts located at the western end in
the north coast of Honduras, with an estimated population of 100,000 people
(Censo, 2001).
Puerto Cortés is Honduras’ most important port, thus, the main source of
employment in the area. About 250 fishers and 100 boats are involved in
artisanal fishing based from communities around Omoa and Puerto Cortes. The
most important fishing organisation is FENAPESCA (National Federation of
Artisanal Fishermen). The Federation is meant to be at the national level, but
this area is where the federation was found to be strongest with little
representation from other parts of the Atlantic coast.
In this western region four main fisheries were found based from 12 fishing
communities (Table 1). The type of fishery is dependent on the bottom type in
proximity to the fishing communities. Further west where the sea bottom is soft,
the communities employ nets targeting jacks and silver sided fish, whereas
towards the east where rocky bottoms are found, the fishers use hook and line to
catch snappers and reef associated fish.
The access to off shore deep water is restricted by investment potential, with the
poorer communities in the west unable to afford the larger investment in boats
and engines to get access to the deep water pelagic species such as king fish,
wahoo and marlin. As such the fishers in the western communities remain the
poorest fishers reliant on near shore net caught fish. The fishers to the east with
slightly better boats that can reach the off shore pelagic species have been able
to diversify their fishery targeting specific species at different times of year. This
improves their annual income and makes them less vulnerable to fluctuations in
the abundance of a specific species.
In Omoa and Puerto Cortes, the ownership of fishing equipment also influences
the decision to fish illegally in the territorial waters of neighbouring countries.
Independent fishers with their own boats generally have small engines and are
likely to fish in national waters. There is a clear delineation in the engine size of
boats fishing locally and those believed to be fishing illegally in Belize. Engines
of local fishers tended to be less than 25 HP and never more than 40 HP.
The boats, whose catch of large snappers and groupers reflected that they were
fishing productive reef systems, always had engines of 75 HP or higher. These
catches were unlikely to from the territorial waters of Honduras. The larger
engines on these boats means their range is greater, but also means the fishing
14
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
costs are higher. There is therefore a strong driver to fish illegally in southern
Belize to ensure the costs of the fuel are covered.
Interestingly, these boats are not owned by the fishermen that use them. Instead
fishers are “tied” to the owner and fish for a share of the total catch. The owners
tend to be fish market stall owners of Puerto Lempira fish market who buy the
catch and sell it in the central market as well as to larger fish merchants. Tied
fishers working for boat owners must have a higher total catch to make the same
money as independent fishermen, because the catch is shared with the owner.
These fishers are also not able to negotiate a sale price as it is the boat owner
who is also the buyer. There is a strong incentive for tied fishermen to fish
illegally and the boat owners facilitate this illegal activity by supplying larger
engines and ensuring the purchase of illegally caught fish. The focus of
management control to stop illegal fishing in foreign waters, which is generating
significant friction in the region, should therefore be the owners of these boats
and the markets which they control. Persecuting the fishermen at sea, detaining
and fining them, may discourage an individual, but it will simply mean that
another will take their place. The route of the problem, which is the facilitators of
the illegal fishing, needs to be resolved to provide a long term solution.
Mandating the use of a GPS monitoring system installed on boats with engines
over 40 HP would likely curb illegal fishing activity. By only stipulating it for boats
with engines above a certain size, it would not affect local fishermen who
generally do not use these larger engines.
Table 1: Artisanal fishing in Omoa and Puerto Cortés
Community
Fishers
Description
Barra del Motagua
8
Near-shore line fishing, gill nets and recently started using traps
learned from Guatemalan fishers. Limited access to the market and
marine resources. Only one fish buyer, high dependence on
agriculture.
El Paraíso
10
Near-shore line fishing, gill nets. Red fish, white fish and pelagics.
More fishing capital and access to the market.
Milla 2, Milla 3,
Chachahuala, Veracruz
35
Near-shore hook and line, and trammel nets not so common because
of a rocky bottom. Subsistence and basic fishing equipment,
intermediaries offering a low price.
Masca y Las Flores
30
Near-shore line fishing, gill nets and beach seines.. Good access to the
marine resources.
Omoa
20
Hook and line for red fish.
Puerto Cortés
80
Near-shore hook and line of great importance. Trammel net in less
quantity. High degree of specialization, and good relationship with
DIGEPESCA, and more knowledge of regulations.
Travesía
18
Near-shore and near shore hook and line and mixed fishery with
beach seine.
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
15
Bajamar
22
Near-shore and near shore hook and line and mixed fishery with
beach seine.
The fish market in Puerto Cortés is very important as it supplies fish to San
Pedro Sula, Progreso, and Tela and beyond. There are three fishing schemes
supplying the fish market in Puerto Cortés. First, there is a private business that
owns boats and provides funds in advance to fishermen to cover the costs of the
fishing trips (gas, ice and food). This obliges the fishers to sell the product to the
boat owner (Tied fishermen). There are approximately thirty fishermen that
regularly work as tied fishermen and are likely to be fishing beyond Honduran
waters.
The second mechanism is the fishers’ cooperative COPESCOL. There are
approximately thirty regular fishermen and forty in total working through the
cooperative. The fishers from the cooperative initially worked for the privately
owned boats, but they realised there were little possibilities to increase their
income, thus, they started saving the capital to found a cooperative and supply
boats to its members.
The third group, which includes all the remaining fishers, are independent
fishermen mainly in the outer lying communities, who have not joined
COPESCOL nor formed their own association or cooperative.
Near-shore line fishing (Text Box 1) is the dominant fishery in the region (Table
1). It is also the most important economically since it targets red snapper,
yellowtail snappers and lane snappers that reach the highest price in the market.
Near-shore line fishing is associated with subsistence fishermen of small
communities with little access to the beach. The Garífuna3 communities have
better access to the marine resource than the Mestizo4 communities. This
determines the use of beach seine5 for mixed fishery in Garífuna communities.
The Mestizo communities located between Omoa and the border with
Guatemala (Milla 2, Milla 3, Chachahuala, Veracruz) do not have access to a
beach and the shore has a rocky bottom; therefore near-shore line fishing is the
only fishing gear possible.
Barra del Motagua (located at the mouth of the Motagua River) is an isolated
community with difficult access. The only road is not accessible during the rainy
season when the river closes the entrance. The majority of households rely on
subsistence agriculture and fishing. Gill nets (Text Box 2)are the most important
3
The Garífunas are the afro-descendants ethnical group located in the coast of Honduras, Belize and
Guatemala.
4
The Mestizo term used for people mixed between indigenous, afro-descendants and Caucasian.
5
The beach seine is known in Spanish as a chinchorro.
16
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
fishing gear within the community and are put near to the shore. Another source
of income is to collect the plastic bottles that the Motagua River washes out
during the rainy season. The plastic bottles are sold to a recycling company.
Text Box 1: Near shore line fishing
Fishermen use a hook and line while the
boat is anchored. Usually the bait consists of
fry like small sardines or other small fish
such as jacks, when fry are scarce during the
months from October to December. Hook
size and whether it is bottom set or floating
varies depending on the target species. The
advantage of line fishing over trammel nets
is that they can be used in rocky bottoms
with less risk of snagging and less cost if
they are lost. Red snapper are the main
target species as these fish aggregate near
rocky structures. Additional species include
yellowtail snapper, mutton snapper and
grunts.
The market access for the community of
Barra Motagua is very limited and since
they do not have freezers, the
possibilities for price negotiation are
limited. There is only one fish buyer that
periodically visits the community to buy
the fish. The use of fish traps is just
beginning in the community. They learnt
to fish with traps from Guatemalan
fishermen, but the efficiency of this
fishing gear has not been tested yet
since they are still constructing them.
In Garífuna communities (Bajamar,
Travesía and Masca), in addition to near-shore line fishing, the use of beach
seines is common (Text Box 3). The main demographic group using beach
seines are young men, who usually do it as a secondary activity. It is regarded
as an activity for young men, since a lot of strength is required to drag the net to
the shore requiring a group of five to six men.
Older men usually line fish as it requires
more knowledge and skills, but less
physical strength. Line fishermen say
that young men do not want to learn
line-fishing anymore, and young men
say that they do not have the patience
for it.
Whilst the Garifuna women do not fish,
they are typically in charge of the
commercialization at the local level.
Some of the interviewees stated that this
ensures that a higher income stays
within the family. Consequently, the
presence of outside intermediaries is not
common in Garífuna communities.
Text Box 2: Trammel and gill nets
Gill nets are on average 25 m in length and
2m wide with varying mesh sizes.
Frequently, fishermen may attach two nets
to increase the total surface area for
capture. Lead weights are fastened to its
bottom while floaters provide buoyancy to
the top, maintaining the net horizontally
positioned in the water. Due to robbery, the
buoys put by fishermen may appear to be
garbage floating in the sea. Otherwise,
boats passing by may steal the catch and
the net. The mesh size ranges from 3 to 5
inches for most targeted species such as:
jacks and mackerel. A trammel net consist
of two or more layers of gill net with different
mesh sizes layered together to target fish of
different sizes.
These general trends were found not only in Bajamar and Travesía, but in the
rest of the Garífuna communities along the coast. The intermediaries coming into
the region from San Pedro Sula and El Progreso go to the Mestizo communities
to buy fish. Fish is typically cheaper in these communities than the price in
Garífuna Communities.
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
17
There have not been external development agency projects oriented to manage
fisheries in this area. A donation from ODECO (Organization of Ethnic
Community Development) provided three boats with 40 hp engines in Travesía
to strengthen the fishermen’s association. However, local fishermen complained
about the president of the association keeping the donation for himself and the
community did not benefit. The fishermen’s association is not functional at the
moment. There is no other indication of cooperative action related to fisheries in
the Garífuna communities visited.
Box 3: Beach seines
Beach seines (chinchorros) are used in shallow waters, with a soft sea bottom and are set close
to shore. The net wall extends from the bottom to the surface and is set in an arc around a
targeted school of fish. The beach seine creates a physical barrier to trap the fish and is then
dragged onto shore by a team of men to collect the catch. Nets normally have a bag in the
middle in to which the fish are herded as the net is hauled ashore. Beach seines are illegal in
Honduras but widely used in Garifuna communities to target near shore shoals of jack.
Tela Bay
The communities in Tela Bay have access to rich coastal habitats including
mangrove forests, coral reefs and estuaries. All fishing communities along the
Bay of Tela are predominantly Garífuna. Miami, Tornabé, La Ensenada and
Triunfo de la Cruz, are communities with similar fisheries, economic activities,
access to basic services and infrastructure (Table 2). All these communities use
beach seines, making intensive use of the coastal resources and there is limited
enforcement of the restrictions prohibiting the use of beach seines or the
deployment of nets in the coastal lagoons.
Table 2: Fishing communities in Tela
Community
Fishers
Fisheries
Barra del Ulua y
Rio Tinto
30
Near-shore line fishing, trammel, long line. Shark, tarpon, robalo,
jacks. Recent closure of shark fishery means that fishers fillet and salt
shark to hide origin. Access to community only through the sea,
Recent expansion of oil palm is affecting land use in the area.
Miami
8
Near-shore line fishing, trammel and beach seine. Mixed near shore
fishery. Use of cast net for bait in the mouths of the rivers.
Los Cerritos
20
Trammel and hook and line mainly in the Laguna de los Micos. The
only mestizo fishing community in the area. Two cooperatives.
Tornabé
18
Beach seine mixed fishery, near-shore hook and line. High dependency
of remittance and other activities connected to urban centers such as
San Pedro and La Ceiba.
La Ensenada
10
Beach seine mixed fishery, and near shore hook and line. Small
community.
Triunfo de la
Cruz
-
Beach seine mixed fishery, near shore hook and line. Largest
community. Cooperative for specialized (Full and part time) fishermen.
18
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
La Barra del Ulúa y Rio Tinto are two communities located at the mouths of the
rivers Ulúa and Rio Tinto. These communities are located between the Bay of
Tela and the Bay of Omoa and are of specific importance because of their
location and access to a wide range of fish species.
The access road to the communities is difficult and basic services are not
present. A crop that is gaining value in the region is oil-palm, and the local
residents are beginning to invest in this crop to sell to oil-palm buyers. The
recent closure of the shark fishery affected these communities significantly. The
shark fishery is associated with tarpon6 which are caught using long lines.
Tarpons are attracted to fresh water, coming from the mouths of both rivers. At
the same time, sharks are attracted to the increased productivity of the area and
abundant food for these top predators. The use of long lines by these
communities’ means that they not only catch tarpons but also land sharks. To
improve the shark sanctuary efficacy it is important to work in these communities
to find alternative fishing mechanisms that don’t catch sharks. Shark currently
remains an important catch for these communities where the meat is salted for
the Lenten season, thus hiding its species of origin.
Text Box 4: cast nets
Los Cerritos is the only Mestizo fishing
community visited in Tela that fishes in the
Laguna de los Micos, which is in the
protected area of Parque Nacional Jeanette
Kawas. The main fishing gears in the
community are gill nets and line fishing. The
enforcement of the closed season in the
lagoon
is
mainly
conducted
by
PROLANSATE but in some years they have not had the necessary funds to
patrol during closed season and the community reported that the inspectors of
DIGEPESCA are not seen patrolling in the area.
Cast nets (atarrayas) are small seine
nets employed to catch sardines or fry
used as bait for hook and line fishing.
Sardines are not for household
consumption. Generally, they are used
directly from shores and also from
boats. It is also used to catch small
quantities of shrimp.
There is a pervasive issue in that a few people not respecting the closed season
cause the rest of fishermen to start fishing as well. Most fishermen are aware
that the closed season is important to let fish reproduce, but they feel that if
other fishermen are fishing, they cannot simply sit inactive and let others get
everything. Focusing on collective responsibility and giving fishers the ability to
enforce their own fishing laws would likely combat the low enforcement presence
in the area at the moment and help empower fishers to protect their own futures.
Triunfo de la Cruz is one of the largest villages in Tela Bay, with a population of
approximately 10,000 people. The economic activities are quite varied, and
fishing is not the main source of income for most households. One aspect that
6
Sábalo
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
19
has greatly influenced the dependency on artisanal fisheries has been
remittances which have greatly reduced people’s direct reliance on fishing. The
better economic connection of these communities with Tela also decreases the
dependency on artisanal fisheries.
El Porvenir and Esparta
The Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge is located in the district of El Porvenir.
FUCSA (Fundación Cuero y Salado) is in charge of the protected area which
includes terrestrial and marine areas spanning across a mangrove estuary and
canal system. One of the most characteristic features in the protected area is the
strong desire to manage the local artisanal fisheries. The fishers’ association
APROCUS (Fishermen’s Association of La Rosita and Cuero y Salado) was
created to enhance fisheries management. According to the president of this
association, they made an oath to look after the natural resources they depend
on. It is one of the only protected areas that have directly attempted to manage
their fisheries, along with Fundación Cayos Cochinos (see section on Cayos
Cochinos). The artisanal fisheries management plan (Rico and Medina 2010)
includes the promotion of sustainable fishing practices based on FAO guidelines,
monitoring the catch size, fish size and species caught, and the community
involvement to establish closed seasons.
FUCSA has achieved partial community involvement in the conservation of the
area. Reporting illegal actions within the area is one of the main ways fishers get
involved in the protection of the Resources. According to the president of the
fishers’ association of Salado Barra, there have been many attempts to fish with
beach seines in the beach of Cuero y Salado, especially fishermen coming from
Triunfo de La Cruz. The local fishers inform the visiting fishers using beach
seines that it is a protected area and they are not allowed to do that in the area.
If they carry on with the beach seines, fishers call FUCSA, and FUCSA calls the
Navy in La Ceiba to deal with the fishers violating the law. They have also
stopped lobster divers coming from El Porvenir to dive in the area.
The fishers interviewed agree that this mechanism is helping to prevent
degradation to some degree, but at the same time the area is quite large and
poses severe logistical challenges to effectively protect the entire area. In
addition to reporting infractions, the fishers also establish closed seasons in the
banks that they fish. If they notice a significant decrease in the fish stock, they
stop fishing for up to six months. During the months that they are not fishing,
they have crops to complement their diet and rely on savings from the fishing
months. Ultimately, both the fishers and managers of FUCSA believe that the
main problems of conservation of resources are not local fishermen but
fishermen coming from other areas.
An important feature of APROCUS is the level of empowerment that they have
achieved, revealed in the manner with which they prevent other fishermen
20
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
coming into the area. In addition to that, they actively participate in deciding on
which grants or donations offered are actually of benefit to the community as a
whole. For instance, they were offered a donation from PROCORREDOR
through FUCSA for a fish landing site. APROCUS did not accept it because it
was considered to be useless for their needs and a waste of money. They told
FUCSA that if they were not getting appropriate assistance, they would prefer to
get nothing. FUCSA had to change the project proposal to something more
adequate to their needs.
The fisheries in Esparta are not as developed as in other sites probably related
to the low pressure from the market to increase fishing effort. The fishing
communities in Esparta are isolated and the main road does not render easy
access to the communities. In La Rosita, agriculture is also important in addition
to the fisheries. Other fishing communities in the area are Cayo Venado and the
communities fishing around the Zambuco Lagoon and the Thompson Lagoon.
According to the fisherman interviewed in La Rosita, there are only six fishermen
in these communities.
Table 3: Fisheries in Esparta and El Porvenir
Community
Fishers
Fisheries
Esparta (Rosita,
Cayo Venado)
20
Near-shore, near-shore hook and line and trolling, subsistence
fisheries. Trammels. Isolated communities with difficult access.
Agriculture important. Traps in a Z shape targeting Yellowtail
Snapper, lane snapper (calale), jacks and porgy (peje pluma).
Salado Barra y
Boca Cerrada
40
Near-shore and near-shore hook and line. Subsistence fisheries in canoes
without engines but strong fisheries dependence and two boats that
fishers take turns to use. Fishing in the direction to Utila.
El Porvenir
80
Near-shore and near-shore hook and line. Subsistence fisheries in canoes
but strong fisheries dependence. Fishing in the direction to Utila.
In El Porvenir there are three main economic activities: wage labour at the
pineapple plantation, the textile factory and artisanal fishing. Despite the
economic importance of fishing, the use of gill nets or other type of net was not
found. About four boats in El Porvenir are currently active in lobster diving. Red
snapper and other snappers are also important, and fishers regularly go further
away to banks located in the direction to Utila. The majority of the fishermen do
not have engines, so paddling is the main propulsion. The weather conditions
greatly determine their possibilities to go out fishing. The long lines were put
away with the closure of the shark fishery but there is incidental shark catching.
There is no association for the fishermen from El Porvenir, but some fishermen
have come together as a requisite to obtain financial help from the Municipality.
For example the Fisher’s Association of El Porvenir was founded because the
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
21
Municipality promised a boat and a GPS with funds from the project
PROCORREDOR.
Compared to the fishermen located in the sheltered bays of Omoa and Tela, the
vulnerability to weather impacts is higher in the communities in this area
because they are exposed to the open water. Near-shore line fishing entails
more exposure risk than fishing in the bays. In addition to the risk of going out
fishing after the bad weather induced by cold fronts, the possibilities to find fish
are low according to the fishermen, because the fish hide in the bays or in deep
water during adverse weather conditions. Accordingly, the difficult months for
fishers are from October to January, when the cold fronts are common.
There is a clear distinction between the districts located west to La Ceiba (El
Porvenir, Esparta) and communities in La Ceiba. The districts west to La Ceiba,
which are mainly Mestizo communities, have basic fishing equipment and
regularly depend on near-shore line fishing and gill nets. For these communities,
subsistence fishing prevails and marine resources provide the bulk of the protein
in people’s diets. There is a high dependency of near-shore line and gill net
fishing targeting jacks, mackerel, lane snapper, barracuda, grunts, porgy, and
other fish of low economic value. These communities also have a high
dependency on agricultural activities.
East of La Ceiba
The capture and sale of fish is an important source of income at the local and
regional level around La Ceiba. As a commercial hub, artisanal fishers located
close to La Ceiba are better connected with export markets through industrial
fish processing plants. The species marketed internationally are mainly yellowtail
snapper, deep water snappers including the red snapper, lobster, conch and
shrimp. Yellowtail snapper coming from artisanal fisheries is preferred over
industrial yellowtail because it is fresher, being caught and sold to the packing
plant within 24 or 48 hours. This compares to the industrial fleet which may have
fish in their hold for up to 10 days before getting it to the packing plants.
In La Ceiba itself there are around forty fishermen based in Bonitío, Dantío,
Miramar and La Ponce, which are neighbourhoods in La Ceiba. Fishermen are
mainly paddling for near-shore line fishing. Further information on these fishers
could not be collected because of the security issues related to these
impoverished communities in La Ceiba.
Artisanal fishing boats based on the mainland and in communities established
on the cays, exert a significant pressure on the marine resources of the
Archipelago of Cayos Cochinos. The communities immediately east of La Ceiba
(Corozal y Sambo Creek), mainly Garífuna communities, are better connected to
La Ceiba but because of poor access to coral reef fish have mainly adopted
other fishing gear such as beach seines to target non export fish such as jacks.
22
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
The most important fishing areas for communities east of La Ceiba are the reefs
and banks around Cayos Cochinos. Three major communities from the north
shore fish in this area Sambo Creek, Corozal and Nueva Armenia (Table 4).
Typically, when fishing from the mainland, fishers leave for two to three days,
with a requirement to catch around 150 pounds of fish to make a profit, when
returning to the mainland to sell the fish. Fishers organize themselves in groups
of two or three and leave in a small motorized boat. Fishermen report the need
to go further away and move from bank to bank more than they did in the past.
The implications of having to go further away and switch banks imply a higher
investment in fuel costs. Fishing pressure increases along the north coast in the
first months of the year, when the fishery of yellowtail snapper takes place. In
addition the holy week holiday when the demand of fish increases at the national
level is a strong driver for fisheries activities in the first quarter of the year.
The communities of Corozal and Sambo Creek have moved to less dependency
on fisheries, switching to tourism. It is worth mentioning that the economic
connection of Sambo Creek and Corozal to La Ceiba has helped these
communities in the transition towards less fishing dependency. Sambo Creek,
especially has greatly reduced subsistence fishing and increased reliance on
cash economies to buy food.
Corozal is a community with around fifty fishermen and thirty living exclusively
from fishing. Beach seines are also important in Corozal, and the beach is
heavily exploited. There are approximately six beach seine teams (equipos
chinchorreros) fishing not only in the beach of Corozal, but moving along the
beach. This implies around forty fishermen involved in this unselective fishery.
Fishers are part of ACEPA which is the association of artisanal fishers of La
Ceiba.
Table 4: Fisheries La Ceiba and Jutiapa
Community
Fishers
Fisheries
Sambo Creek
5
Near-shore hook and line. High dependency on tourism, one of the
communities where fishing has diminished.
Corozal
50
Near-shore hook and line and intensive beach seine use. Strong
connection with La Ceiba as a source of alternative economic
efforts.
Nueva Armenia
40
Near-shore hook and line and beach seine. Community landlocked
by palm-oil, reducing the economic alternatives
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
23
Fishing communities in Balfate, Colón
The fishing communities in Balfate, in the department of Colón, are further away
from the main paved road and a dirt road is the only access. The region depends
largely on agriculture. The communities of Bambu y Rio Coco, are starting to fish
in the direction to Guanaja, since the pressure in Cayos Cochinos has
considerably decreased the fish stock in the banks surrounding Cayos Cochinos.
Table 5: Fishing communities in Balfate, Colón
Community
Fishers
Fisheries
Balfate ( including
Lucinda, Bejucales, Lis Lis,
Limeras)
40
Near-shore hook and line. Subsistence fisheries with limited access
to the marine resources and only basic fishing equipment.
Rio Esteban
18
Near-shore hook and line and beach seine. Recent closure of shark
fishery affecting some of the population. Line fishing the main
fishing gear. Agriculture is an important alternative livelihood.
Bambú y Rio Coco
-
Near-shore hook and line, large fishing efforts. Some of them
fishing in the direction to Guanaja due to overfished banks in Cayos
Cochinos. Specialized fishing equipment include fish finders and
GPS.
The Bay Islands
Fishing has been a principal livelihood on the Bay Islands since the islands were
first settled in the late 18th Century by wood cutters from Belize, migrants from
the Cayman Islands and the United States and freed slaves from British colonies
in the Caribbean. Fishing and the trading of fish and coconuts with Belize and the
wider Caribbean became the main stay of the fledgling local economy.
The Bay Islands has maintained this close connection with fishing to the present
day, with both industrial fishing and artisanal fishing having important roles
across the different islands. The importance of fishing to the local economy has
only recently been eclipsed with the advent of tourism on the islands.
Industrial fishing remains an important sector of the local economy on Roatán
and Guanaja, providing seasonal employment both on the boats and in the
packing plants. The focus for the industrial fishing activities however is not
around the Bay Islands and instead is around 400 km east of the Bay islands on
the fishing banks of the Nicaraguan Rise off the department of Gracias a Dios.
Despite this spatial separation of fishing pressure by the industrial fleet from the
Bay Islands, the packing plants on Roatán, Guanaja and in La Ceiba do influence
the activities of artisanal fishermen in the Bay Islands. This is because the
industrial packing plants provide accessible markets for locally caught fish, and a
24
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
consistent demand which can absorb the peaks in production that would normally
saturate local demand. So, whilst this report focuses on the activities of the
artisanal fishers, the role of industrial fish processing plants must also be
considered as they relate to the exploitation and management of these fisheries.
In contrast to the continued strength of the industrial fishing sector on the Bay
Islands, the importance of artisanal fishing on the local reefs has diminished
considerably, especially over the last ten years. This decline coincides with the
rapid growth in tourism over this period in certain areas of the Bay Islands.
In areas where tourism activities have expanded, many fishers have left fishing
for other employment opportunities and there has been little new entry from the
next generation. Artisanal fishing, once a ubiquitous activity across all
communities in the Bay Islands, has shrunk to a few scattered localities that
remain heavily reliant on fishing. These communities are located away from
areas that have undergone tourism development.
The decline in traditional artisanal fishing by native Bay Islanders on the near
shore reefs has been replaced to some extent by subsistence fishing from a
growing population of migrants to the island. Many of these families that have
moved from mainland Honduras to the islands attracted by better employment
prospects offered directly or indirectly by tourism development, still need to
supplement their family income or their diet, through the collection of fish from
near shore waters. So despite the decline in active full time fishers as a result of
a transition from fishing to other livelihoods, fishing pressure around the islands
may actually be on the increase as an indirect consequence of this same tourism
development.
Overall, the greatest challenge facing the management of the fish and fisheries of
the Bay Islands is a result of this shift in fishing activity. Exploitation of the fish
resources around the island is changing from dedicated full or part time fishers,
who had a strong connection and dependence on the reef fisheries, to the
opportunistic fishing of a growing population, who may view the sea as an
additional bonus income, rather than the foundation of their way of life.
The chronic pressure placed on fish populations by the indiscriminate collection
of fish from near shore waters, and the continued growth in this activity driven by
a growing population on the islands, particularly in lower income demographics,
means that these activities are unlikely to be sustainable. This poses a significant
threat to the sustainability of Bay Islands marine resources.
It is also clear that the management of the Bay Islands marine systems needs to
be integrated into the management of the north shore. There are important
ecological and socioeconomic connections, caused both by natural movement of
the target fish species, but also by the ranges of the fishermen across these
areas and the migration of people between the north shore and the islands. As
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
25
such it is critical that management plans are also connected at these relevant
spatial scales.
Guanaja
Industrial fishing has dominated the economy more than artisanal fishing on
Guanaja. This fact combined with a low population growth, high relative standard
of living, high dependence on remittances and relatively little tourism
development has placed less pressure on the near shore marine resources of the
island compared to its neighbours. Artisanal fishing remains locally and culturally
important, but there are only around 75 fishers spread across this island.
No destructive fishing gear was found during the visits to any of the six
communities in Guanaja, and line fishing and trolling were the only fishing gear
used. Artisanal lobster diving is more developed with the presence of two lobster
plants on the island which local divers can also sell in to. It is not clear how these
fishers will continue when tank diving is prohibited but there is the opportunity for
this community to transition into other lobster fishing techniques including the use
of lobster shades and skin diving as a viable alternative.
According to fishermen, fishing has always been an activity where sometimes
you catch, sometimes you do not and they do not report the same level of
resource decline as told by fishers from other areas. Shark fishing is also not
customary. One of the beliefs is that “sharks eat people, so eating shark is
almost cannibalism”.
Table 6 – A brief description of the fishing communities on the island of Guanaja
Communities
Bonnaca
Fishers
Fisheries
12
Near- shore and off-shore hand line for red and white fish, diving, red and
white fish and lobster. Predominance of industrial fishing. There is a great
diversity of economic activities.
Savannah Bight
15
Near- shore and off-shore hand line for red and white fish
East End
6
Near- shore and off-shore hand line for red and white fish. Small
community connected with Savannah Bight.
North East Bight
7
Near- shore and off-shore hand line for red and white fish and trolling for
pelagics. The most isolated community and their main connection is with
mangrove bight. Sea turtle and iguana catch for local consumption with
low Access to the market.
Mangrove Bight
20
Near- shore and off-shore hand line for red and white fish. It is the fishing
community with higher degree of specialization and bigger number of
fishermen and engines.
El Pelícano
15
Near- shore and off-shore hand line for red and white fish. Proximity to
Bonnaca allows a better accesr to economic activities other than fisheries.
26
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
A lot of them are working in industrial fishing boats.
All fishermen interviewed unanimously agreed that the main fishing site is in the
north east direction, about one and a half miles off from the coast with occasional
visits to a trench located between Guanaja and Roatán to the west. Under the
new management plan designation for the area a no take reserve is being
established, but on the western side of the island. This should not generate much
conflict as it is not a principal fishing site.
There used to be a fin fish processing plant in Savannah Bight, which was the
only fish buyer in the island, but due to financial problems with the business, the
plant had to shut down. For some months, there was no other fish buyer on the
island as the other two plants only worked with lobster. Recently, an opportunistic
fish buyer from Mangrove Bight has started buying fish from artisanal fishermen
to sell it to Roatan Seafood’s. In addition one of the lobster plants has also
diversified to start dealing in fin fish. This has a great potential to change the
market demand and thus, the fishing effort in Guanaja and it is essential that
fisheries monitoring be established in this area to ensure that the connection of
the artisanal fishers to a strong a consistent demand does not drive the local
fisheries of fin fish to over exploitation.
Roatan
There is a clear distinction between the two ends of the island of Roatán. The
majority of the tourism on Roatán is located in the western side of the island,
whilst fishing activities are dominant on the eastern side of the island. In the
western part of the island, the threat of resource degradation resulted in a
community-based marine protected area (Roatan Marine Park, previously known
and the West End Sandy Bay Marine Park established by the Bay Islands
Conservation Association) to protect and manage marine resources. The
dominant gear is line fishing, since it is the only fishing technique allowed in the
marine park. The number of fishermen has considerably decreased with the
years and the new generations are more interested in activities related to
tourism. We estimate there are fewer than 60 full or part time dedicated artisanal
fishermen on the western end of the island (Table 6). This is approximately half
the number that was found in the 1999 fisheries surveys of PMAIB (Gobert et al,
2005).
Table 7: Fishing communities in west Roatán with the total estimated number of full or part time fishers
Community
Fishers
Fisheries
Coxen Hole y Flowers Bay
40
Near-shore line fishing targeting red fish, and trolling for
pelagic, diving for lobster and conch. Tension for lobster
divers and tension over the management of Cordelia
Bank which is the main fishing site.
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
27
Sandy Bay
10
Near-shore line fishing targeting white and red fish.
Alternative activities related to tourism.
Pollitilly Bight y Crawfish Rock
8
Near shore line fishing. Communities moving towards
activities not related to fishing but more related to
tourism. Therefore, low number of fishermen.
On the south western side of the island the fishermen in Coxen hole and Flowers
Bay as well as those from Los Fuertes are not currently organised into a formal
group but efforts are underway for them to form a legally recognised fishing
cooperative during 2012. The few remaining fishers on the North West side of
Roatán including Sandy Bay, Pollitilly Bight and Crawfish Rock are not organised
in to a group and are mainly older men who have habitually fished, are not
readily employable in other activities related to tourism and pass their days
fishing for themselves and the local community. No full time artisanal fishers
were found to keep their boats in either west end of west bay, although local
fishers from neighbouring communities bring their fish to sell in these
communities.
An association has been established called “Roatán Fishers Association” which
has around 45 members comprised mainly of fishers who have switched to
offering fishing charters to tourists and are from West End, Sandy Bay and
French Harbour. This association is applying to become a nongovernmental
organisation with the aim to develop sports fishing for catch and release of
marlin, sailfish and bone fish.
As with the rest of Honduras there are currently no accurate records for the
number of people who work in this fishing or fishing tourism. In addition to the
Roatán Fishers Association´s members, many Roatán residents who have a
boat may opportunistically offer fishing excursions to tourists to subsidise their
income and may offer fishing in addition to snorkelling trips or island tours. There
is great potential to expand the tourism related fishing activities on the island of
Roatán but this needs to be established with a clear licensing system, an
obligation to comply with specific regulations including gear types, catch and
release policies and the recording and logging of catch levels. This is
fundamental to ensure that the tourism fishery sector can be managed
effectively and provide sustainable fisheries related employment to the local
population.
Market chains for western Roatán Fishers
Fish caught in the western part of Roatán are either consumed locally by the
community or sold directly to restaurants. The price for all fish is 50 lempiras per
pound ($2.50) but the restaurants only want pelagic species such as tuna,
wahoo or king fish, or larger snappers and groupers. There is no demand in this
tourism market for other reef fish such as parrotfish or trigger fish. These reef
species if caught are likely to be consumed by the local communities.
28
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
During the aggregation fishing season for yellowtail snapper and mutton snapper
surplus fish may also be sold to the main fish packing plants in Coxen Hole and
French Harbour. In general however the demand for fish in the restaurants and
hotels of West End and West Bay is higher than current supply from local
fishers. Supply is currently supplemented from fish and shell fish from the
industrial fishing sector including newly emerging imports of fish from Asia and
from Tilapia from the mainland.
With the exception of shrimp, which is legally caught and sold by the industrial
shrimp fishery based on Roatán, the remaining seafood from the industrial
fisheries that is resold by local vendors is largely a product of the illegal and
unreported catch from the industrial boats that is not bought for export by the
packing plants on Roatán or La Ceiba. This includes the undersize or
underweight lobster that cannot be exported which is caught by the lobster trap
or dive fishery. In addition the conch, king crab and speared fin fish all illegally
caught by the lobster dive fishery are sold to supply the local demand for these
seafood products.
These products are illegal as the lobster fishery is only licensed to catch lobster
and so all these other seafood products must be landed illegally going to market
chains without records, regulation or control. Some of this produce ends up
being consumed in the restaurants and hotels nationally but especially in the
Bay Islands. There are currently no estimates on the quantity of illegal landings
that occur from the industrial fleet nor on current consumption levels within the
tourism sector of the Bay Islands.
Of specific concern is the prevalence of conch in the Bay Islands menus. Conch
has been under an indefinite moratorium since 2004 and cannot be caught by
artisanal fishermen. A conch research program has been running since 2006 to
provide the data to develop sustainable management of the industrial conch
fishery. All conch caught by this program, which has an annual quota of 210 tons
is legally done by four industrial boats operating in the fishing banks off La
Moskitia. This entire volume is destined for export with a $0.54 tax on the
product helping to finance the research program.
If the entire quantity of conch caught legally under this program is for export
there should be no conch available for national consumption and it should not be
on the menus of hotels and restaurants. All conch available in Honduras
including on the menus of the Bay Islands restaurants must therefore be from
illegal fishing activities, be they by artisanal fishers or by the industry. The
continued national consumption of this product, especially by the tourism
industry, perpetuates demand and drives bad practices in the industrial fisheries
ultimately impacting the ability to manage these resources effectively.
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
29
The confusion surrounding the legal status of the conch fishery means that most
consumers are not aware that the conch fishery is closed, and artisanal fishers
do not understand why the industry can continue fishing it when they are
prohibited. The large demand for traditional Caribbean seafood by tourists in the
Bay Islands however will perpetuate the problem of providing a ready market for
illegally landed produce.
The permanent closure of the lobster dive fishery on March 1st 2013 under a
regional agreement to prohibit the use of SCUBA in the capture of lobster may
result in a significant decline in the prevalence of conch, king crab and fillets of
grouper and snapper in the national supply chain as the divers will not be in the
water to catch them.
It is clear however that the demand generated for seafood on Roatán cannot be
supplied from its own reefs and so new connections between the markets in the
Bay Islands and the fishing activities of communities from other areas in
Honduras need to be found. There is a real opportunity to develop new suppliers
from well managed national artisanal fisheries to supply the obvious demand for
these seafood products in other areas of the country. This would be far
preferable than the current illogical market dynamics of exporting the majority of
national seafood to other countries and then sustaining national consumption
with imported seafood from Asia. Further, forming these connections can help
expand the benefit of tourism to fishing communities beyond the islands.
To help regulate and manage fisheries in Honduras it is important to focus on
the market chains as much as the activities of the fishermen. As such there
needs to be a specific focus on developing monitoring and control systems for
the seafood markets of Puerto Cortes and La Ceiba as well as restaurants
specifically in key tourism areas such as the Bay Islands. This is especially
important to reduce the drivers of over exploitation of local fisheries because of
the overlap of the industrial fisheries sector in this zone.
Communities east of Roatan
In contrast to the western side of Roatán tourism has not yet expanded
significantly to the east and in the communities situated past French Harbour,
towards the eastern end of the island, near shore fishing activities remain an
important source of local employment, nutrition and income.
The communities located in the east of Roatán include Oak Ridge, Calabash
Bight and Fiddlers Bight. Punta Gorda, Diamond Rock, Alligator Nose, Santa
Helena, Bently Bay and Sico (Table 8). The predominant fishing activity in these
communities is free diving, where lobster and conch are collected and fish are
speared using either homemade or commercially bought spear guns. The
30
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
communities who remain the most reliant on fishing in Eastern Roatán are Punta
Gorda and Santa Helena.
In Punta Gorda, fishing remains an important activity providing an income to
some full time fishers, but more importantly fishing has become an “insurance”
activity for many people who fish if and when they cannot find alternative
employment, including during the closed season of the industrial fishery.
Whilst there may only be a few full time fishermen (15), seasonal fishermen may
account for an additional 30 or as many as 70 extra fishers7 depending on the
alternative employment opportunities available at any given time. All fishermen
fish in a similar way, irrespective of whether they are full time or seasonal
fishermen, combining skin diving to harvest conch and lobster with spearing fish
mainly small groupers, snappers, parrotfish and grunts.
A few of these fishers have homemade fish traps for reef fish but these are in the
minority. Less than five fishers habitually use hook and line because the catch
per unit effort is too low to be economically viable according to community
members. Most fishers use either Cayucos that are paddled out or small inboard
engines in traditional dory style boats. Whilst yields in this fishery are low,
averaging around 20 lbs per fisher per day, the sale price of 30 lempira a pound
for any type of fish and very low costs of fishing means that fishermen may make
around 600 lempiras for a few hours fishing.
In addition to these fishermen there is another fishing sector based from Barrio
Ingles in Punta Gorda. Groups of young men from this neighbourhood employ
beach seines as a way of getting a rapid income. The beach seine nets are
deployed to catch near shore pelagic fish such as bar jacks as well as all other
fish that get caught incidentally. We estimate there are around 5 sets of beach
seiners with each team consisting of around 8 fishers. So there are an estimated
40 additional fishers who utilise the local fish resources.
The use of these nets is a concern because of the low selectivity of the net and
the fact that they are deployed in habitat areas where juvenile fish are prevalent
potentially causing recruitment overfishing and impacting the replenishment of
neighbouring reef fish populations. In addition the beach seine teams are socially
damaging and a point of conflict between the fishers of Punta Gorda and
adjacent communities. There is significant animosity towards the use of beach
seines by this group of Punta Gorda fishermen. The beach seine teams are seen
as a significant cause of fish decline in local waters. In addition because they
target fish in the neighbouring areas that have traditionally been fished by other
communities they are causing friction between fishers of different areas.
7
Estimates provided by active fishers in the community as well as community leaders during fishing
interviews conducted by the Centre for Marine Ecology in Punta Gorda in 2012.
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
31
A priority for management in the Bay Islands must be to rid the fisheries of nets
and support the transition to sustainable fishing activities. In 2012 a new initiative
to engage the Punta Gorda fishermen began to develop a market for lionfish for
these fishermen to transition them to this species instead of reef fish. At the
same time the fishermen are forming a cooperative and looking to develop a
locally lead fisheries management plan including the use of lobster shades as a
fishing technique and the designation of no take reserves across portions of their
home reef area. Punta Gorda needs to be a focus for work under the
management of the Bay Islands fisheries.
Table 8 – Summary of the communities east of Roatán
Communities
Punta Gorda
Fishers
Fisheries
30
Skin diving to collect lobster and conch and to spear
grunts, small groupers, snappers, permits and parrotfish.
Selective, more efficient than hook and line but low total
yield due to poor fish abundance in area
40
Beach seine fishing teams targeting near shore jacks as
well as all other fish caught. Unselective and ecologically
and socially destructive
Santa Helena
30
Near shore hand line fishing. Red fish, white fish, lobster
and conch. High degree of specialization for some
fishermen and also destructive fishing practices.
Oak Ridge, Fiddlers Bight y
Calabash Bight
15
Near shore hand line fishing. Red fish, white fish. Oak
Ridge with decay of artisanal fisheries because of the
presence of economic alternatives.
Camp Bay y Diamond Rock
10
Near-shore line fishing. Red and White fish. Communities
with low presence of fishermen, but
Santa Helena
In Santa Helena there are traditional fishing communities including Sico and
Bently Bay and their livelihood remains highly dependent on the sea. The
relationship with the sea has shaped their history, culture, social relations and
economics since they are spatially isolated from all the touristic development
happening in other parts of the island. However much of the community now lives
from remittances and there are only a few full time fishermen in the community.
The Centre for Marine Ecology estimated that there were only around 30 active
fishermen in Santa Helena in 2011. These fishers use both the north and south
of the island using both hook and line and spear fishing. There has been no
adoption of beach seines and the fishers in this area hold significant animosity
against the invasion of their traditional areas by Punta Gorda beach seine
fishermen. Fish and shell fish caught in Santa Helena is almost always
consumed locally with a price per pound of fish around 35 lempiras irrespective
of species. There is little connection between this end of the island and other
32
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
market chains unless a particularly large catch is made, making it economically
viable to transport the fish to Oak Ridge or French Harbour.
In all the communities on the East side of Roatán there are some larger fishing
boats which have a greater range. These boats go on fishing trips that can span
several days and generally target deep water snappers in the trenches between
Roatán and Guanaja. It is difficult to disentangle the catch of these boats from
from the local fishing activities, but it is likely that as local resources continue to
decline, the average range which fishers are travelling is increasing. This
extension of the fisher’s home range is an important driver in the increasing
spatial conflicts between fishing communities as fishing areas begin to overlap.
In conclusion, the island of Roatán presents a management paradox. Some of
the most intensive artisanal fishing on the entire north coast of Honduras occurs
just a few kilometres away from one of the most well established and recognised
marine protected areas (Roatán Marine Park). This raises the important question
as to whether larger scale conservation and management objectives for the
marine resources of the island as a whole are being achieved under the existing
paradigm. In the current framework management attention is focused on
controlling fishing activities on the area of reefs whose adjacent communities
have the greatest number of alternative livelihood possibilities and the lowest
overall fishing pressure. At the same time management action has largely
ignored the other direct impacts on reef health such as coastal development that
the reefs at the western end of the island are subject to. In addition there has
been little effort invested in identifying viable solutions for the communities that
are still heavily dependent of fishing at the eastern end of the island, but where
there are fewer other stressors on the fringing coral reefs. There is an urgent
need to rethink and redesign the reef conservation and fisheries management
schema for Roatán if it is to have large scale and lasting benefits for the island
as a whole.
Table 9: Communities east Roatan
Communities
Fishers
Fisheries
Punta Gorda
20
Near-shore hook and line, diving, harpoon. Grouper, snapper, Red fish,
white fish, lobster and conch. A lot of pressure, but low selectivity and
specialization.
Santa Helena
30
Near shore hand line fishing. Red fish, white fish, lobster and conch. High
degree of specialization for some fishermen and also destructive fishing
practices.
Oak
Ridge,
Fiddlers Bight y
Calabash Bight
15
Near shore hand line fishing. Red fish, white fish. Oak Ridge with decay of
artisanal fisheries because of the presence of economic alternatives.
Camp Bay y
Diamond Rock
10
Near-shore line fishing. Red and White fish. Communities with low
presence of fishermen, but
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
33
Utila artisanal landings
The island of Utila consists of two communities; the main town known as East
Harbour, and the “cays” which are two inhabited cays three miles south west of
East Harbour.
In the main town of East Harbour, dive tourism and related activities underpins
the local economy. Fishing activities here have reduced considerably with less
than ten full time fishermen based in the main town. Fishing is now a marginal
activity but recreational fishing either by residents or with tourists is increasing.
The main recreational fishery is pelagic trolling and sport fishing with pole and
line. Trolling in the island is often restricted by the high price of fuel thus
recreational trolling and for personal consumption often occurs while a boat is
employed for other purposes; such as snorkeling with tourists. Trolling is mainly
used to catch tuna, barracuda and other large pelagic species.
The second type of fishing that continues to occur in East Harbour is land based
line fishing, in creeks and lagoons and other places where there is easy access
to the shore and the water. There are three main places where people generally
congregate to shore fish: on the iron shore in the eastern part of the island,
Oyster bed lagoon and on the north shore by Pumpkin hill.
In contrast to East Harbour fishing on the Utila Cays remains a central activity for
the community with two thirds of households with occupants in active
employment directly reliant on fishing. These households have at least one active
fisher or are involved in the buying or selling of fish or fishing supplies. This is a
much higher proportion of a community reliant on fishing than any other area in
the Bay Islands, making the Utila cays of specific interest for the management of
fish and fisheries in the area. Due to this very high dependence on artisanal
fishing this project established a data collection system that collected data on the
landings made by the community from the 1st August 2010 to the 29th September
2011. It included the records from one thousand five hundred and sixty one
artisanal landings made by 77 small scale fishers of the Utila Cays.
During this time 116,096 pounds of fish were landed. Cay fishermen mainly use
small open top boats called “Dories”, traditionally made from wood. These craft
are not seen beyond the Bay Islands and are part of the fishing heritage of the
area. These boats normally have inboard diesel engines ranging from 15 to 150
Horse power. Due to the small open top craft these fishers use, their ability to go
on fishing excursions is highly dependent on the weather. Strong winds above
15 knots, such as the prevailing trade winds in summer and the occasional
storms from the north in winter, prevent fishermen from accessing their fishing
grounds which are up to 40 km away from the cays. During the 424 days of this
study fishers were only able to actively fish on 302 of the available days (71%).
34
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
There are four separate fisheries targeted by the small scale fishers of the Utila
cays:
1) the pelagic species including small species of tuna (Thunnus atlanticus,
Katsuwonus pelamis and Euthynnus allerreratus), wahoo (Acanthocybium
solandri), kingfish (Scomberomorus cavalla) and jacks (including Seriola
dumerili, Caranx hippos and C. latus);
2) the shallow water coral reef associated grouper-snapper complex including
yellowtail snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus) and red hind (Epinephelus guttatus);
3) the deep water snapper species (including Rhomboplites aurorubens, Etelis
oculatus and Lutjanus campechanus) which are spread across a large area on
the edge of the continental shelf;
4) Lobster (Panilurus argus) and conch (Strombus gigas) collected on SCUBA.
Reef associated fish account for 60% of the landed catch, with the most
important fish in this fishery, the yellowtail snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus) which
accounts for over a quarter of the total landing weight of all fish (27%). Deep
water snappers account for just over 18% of the total catch and pelagic species
22%.
The fishermen range up to 40 km from the island, selecting their locations
depending on weather conditions, time of year and target catch. Shallow water
reef fish are found on the coral banks to the south, south west and south east of
the island; deep water snappers on the deep shelf that runs at the edge of the
continental shelf on the northern side of the island stretching to the east and
west; and pelagic species that are found in the deep waters to the north, east
and west where the continental shelf drops off in to deep waters and the conch
and lobster are on banks south and south west towards Porvenir and Tela.
Whilst handlines are the dominant gear, traps are used for groupers in deeper
water (> 40 m) at known spawning sites and several fishers use large mesh nets
(3” to 5” mesh size) for pelagic species. Fishermen diving on SCUBA for lobster
and conch also carry spears to shoot large fish they encounter during their
search for crustaceans.
Based on landing data, shallow and deep reef fish species combined account for
87% of the total landed catch with pelagic species making up the remaining 13%
by weight. On average fishermen land 43.5 (±1.2) lbs of fish per excursion (Box
and Canty, 2010).
There is clear segregation between fishermen in the cays in terms of their target
catch. Shallow water reef fishermen account for 36 of the fishers and on average
77% of their catch weight of target species is from the shallow reefs, with 16%
being the incidental species that are caught at the same time. A further 4% are
deep water snapper species that may have been caught incidentally on the
shallow species banks with only 3% of their catch coming from pelagic species.
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
35
These pelagic species are normally caught trolling, on the way to or from the
shallow reef fishing grounds.
Deep reef fishermen likewise are highly specific in their targeting of deep water
fish with 71% of their catches composed of these species and a further 14% on
average coming from target and non-target shallow reef species. Again trolling to
and from the fishing banks comprises 6% of their catch as pelagic species.
There are only two specialized pelagic fishers with an average of 77% of their
catch coming from non-tuna pelagics and 19% from tunas, with non-target reef
species being caught.
Non-specific fishers have no clear preference in what they catch and are most
likely the migrant fishers who do not have enough acquired local knowledge to
successfully select target species and tend to catch a wider variety of fish
species or switch between fisheries more frequently (Table 10).
Table 10 - Segregation of fishermen by target catch. Fishermen were segregated into a particular fishery if over 60%
of their total landed catch weight was from one fishery category. Non-specific fishers did not have a majority of catch
from any one fishery group (N is the number of fishermen).
Mean proportion of total landed catch weight for each fishermen in group
Shallow Reef Shallow
Reef Deep
reef Pelagic non
N
Pelagic tuna
Target
Incidental
Target
tuna
Shallow
reef
36
77%
16%
4%
2%
1%
fishermen
Deep
reef
4
14%
10%
71%
6%
0%
fishermen
Pelagic Fishers
2
0%
4%
0%
77%
19%
Non-specific fishers
10
29%
38%
6%
14%
13%
Generally the peak fishing season is from October to April and the low season is
May to September, when the easterly trade winds make sea conditions too
rough for the small open top boats and thus limit fishing effort.
Fish caught in the months leading up to Lent is salted and stored in barrels
before drying to supply the national demand for Salt fish for the catholic tradition.
This culminates in Easter week where devout Catholics will only eat fish. The
Utila cays is an important producer of salt fish classified as “Cecina” which is
fillets of larger fish that are deboned before salting and drying. Production of salt
fish is an important source of income for the cays, with species including
barracuda, jacks and sharks. The declaration of the shark sanctuary in June
2011 and the resultant prohibition on the capture or commerce of sharks will
increasingly impact this production of salt fish as buyers move away from the
purchase of sharks.
There are also seasonal peaks for other specific fish species including the
mutton snapper (Lutjanus analis) which migrates past the island around the full
moon in October or November, following the continental shelf, and a selection of
groupers (including Mycteroperca venenosa) which are targeted at specific
spawning sites using baited traps for 4 days either side of the full and new
moons, between December and March. The yellowtail snapper (Ocyurus
36
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
chrysurus) is the single most important fish accounting for 27% by weight of all
fish landed across the year. All groupers combined account for 13 % of the catch
but are only present in specific seasons.
In addition to the fin fish fishery, there is a tank dive fishery based on the Utila
cays, which is the only small scale tank fishery on the Bay Islands. These fishers
make daily excursions to dive on the banks to the south of the island. Lobster
and conch are collected by divers, in a ratio of about 3 lobsters: 1conch (Pers
obs). The main fishing areas are to the south west in areas known as “Green
Grass” towards Tela.
During the open season for lobster, there is a commercial buyer on the cays who
runs the diving operation (filling tanks and providing regulators). During the
closed lobster season, this buyer switches his operation to target fin fish such as
yellowtail snapper and does not fill tanks nor send his boats diving. However the
divers use some of the dive shops in town instead to fill their tanks and continue
fishing during the closed season. They sell their catch to local restaurants and
intermediaries for mainland market chains. The consumption of lobster out of
season by the tourist sector is a continuing concern on Utila as well as Roatán
as it perpetuates the demand for illegal seafood.
The conch fishery is officially closed, yet the divers from the Utila cays continue
to collect conch and sell it to the commercial buyer. Both conch and lobster
therefore continue to be collected during the closed seasons. Whilst local
awareness campaigns have persuaded some restaurants not to serve conch on
their menus, and to not sell lobster out of season, the local market, especially in
the closed fishing season, remains strong. Undersize conch is also sold to local
restaurants, food stalls and small shops that do not regularly serve the tourist
market but instead supply local resident consumption. Awareness campaigns
that effectively target resident consumption rather than just aimed at the tourist
segment are required, in addition to better enforcement of closed season
regulations.
There are no records for the volume of conch or lobster caught by the Utila cays
based fishermen, nor exact numbers of divers targeting lobster and conch. Due
to the illegality of the conch fishery and the disregard for closed seasons for the
lobster fishery it is difficult to collect information on this activity.
The commercial buyer operates 6 of his own boats which normally have two
divers and there are some independent divers from the community as well. It is
estimated that there are around 20 divers operating out of the Utila cays during
the lobster season, with perhaps a third continuing during closed season. The
remaining divers switch to hook and line fishing of yellowtail. This seasonal
transition provides an opportunity to link management strategies of the
lobster/conch fishery with the management of the yellowtail snapper fishery. The
development of an effective management strategy for yellowtail snapper to make
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
37
it a sustainable and highly profitable fishery could provide the economic
incentive to increase compliance with closed seasons. The Centre for Marine
Ecology is currently working on developing management tools for this yellowtail
snapper fishery for the Caribbean.
Many of the divers for conch and lobster come from Garifuna communities on
the north shore to work in the Utila cays based fishery. This may be a
consequence of the management restrictions of Cayos Cochinos that displaces
fishers to Utila because they cannot fish for conch within the waters close to their
communities.
Subsistence fishing in near shore waters
The growing population on the Utila cays, especially of migrant Garifuna and
main land Hondurans who are attracted to work in the fishery, means there is a
strong local demand for a cheap source of protein. The seagrass areas around
the cays are reportedly an important area for juvenile and immature conch as
well as a nursery area for snappers and other reef fish. These areas are
increasingly being exploited by non-cayan fishermen, working from Cayucos (a
dugout canoe) with a snorkel and mask.
Of particular concern is the collection of tiny conch in this area. These are young
juveniles that may weight as little as 1/3 oz per conch. These conchs are either
eaten directly by the collectors or are sold to a local shop for resale. Local
cayans and Utilians whilst not necessarily directly collecting the conch still
shoulder some responsibility since they run the shops which purchase these
juvenile conchs and the restaurants that sell the conch soup it is used in.
Similarly juvenile lobsters are also collected and sold in this way. This same
fishing sector also fish near shore reef fish for local consumption especially the
white grunt and squirrel fish.
Subsistence fishing activities which are removing juveniles of a range of reef
species will directly harm the sustainability of the areas fisheries and the integrity
of the local coral reefs. The rapid growth in the local population through
migration from the mainland, especially of poorer demographics, is placing a
large strain on local marine resources. The effect of enforcement of fishing
regulations in other areas, specifically around cayos cochinos may have
exacerbated the problem on Utila cays by displacing fishing effort to this area.
Connecting the management of the north shore fishing banks, cayos cochinos
and the bay islands is essential considering that both fishermen and the fish
resources they target are motile.
Market chains from Utila
One of the most characteristic features of the Utila cays is the well-defined
market chains that they benefit from. The proximity of the fish packing plants of
38
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
La Ceiba and Roatán to the highly efficient and well equipped fishers on the Utila
Cays provide a constant market demand for particular products caught by these
local fishermen. There are three local buyers who purchase all the fish from the
Utila Cays fishermen. Each of these buyers is then connected to a specific
market chain. The first buyer established in the late 1980s where she supplied
fish to Roatán. This buyer supplied ice to the fishers and as this evolved the
fishers were trained to fillet fish properly and maintain them on ice so that
ultimately these fishers were connected to high quality export markets. To date
the export market still underpins much of the fishing activity on the cays,
providing consistent purchasing power for the fish landed and a fixed, normally
stable price. With the establishment of two further buyers fish which are landed
directly on to the cays can flow through several distinct market chains, destined
for domestic or international markets as determined by species, size and time of
year.
Until 2011 the majority of all landed fish were bought by two fish buyers located
on the cays with only a small proportion sold directly to consumers by fishermen,
or eaten locally. These two buyers maintained the same prices between each
other and sold onto the same set of buyers located in the coastal provincial
capital, La Ceiba or occasionally to Roatán or direct buyers from the Cayman
Islands.
Both of these fish buyers provide the economy of scale required to move the fish
off the island, they also offer essential fishing supplies such as ice, fuel and
credit to fishers. Both fish buyers also own multiple boats with one also
supplying the dive support for the lobster and conch dive fishery and purchasing
the resultant catch.
Since 2011 there has been an evolution in the market with a new fish packing
plant called “Roatán Seafood” opening. This packing plant which mainly exports
to Jamaica and is owned by Jamaican businessmen is operated out of the
premises of a previous shrimp and lobster packing plant in French Harbour.
Roatán Seafood has connected with a new buyer based on the Utila cays to
purchase from local fishermen. The market strategy was to offer at least 20%
more per pound than the other buyers to attract new fishermen. Secondly
Roatán Seafood has a largely indiscriminate buying policy and will buy most reef
fish in any quantity from industrial and artisanal fishermen alike.
Whilst the pricing has stabilised with fishermen receiving similar process per
pound at each o the three buyers now there are serious concerns that the
unselective buying policy of Roatán Seafood will be a serious driver of
overexploitation for the fisheries not only of Utila cays and the Bay Islands but of
the wider fisheries of the Honduran Caribbean. Roatán seafood has also
established buyers on Guanaja to link to its plant on Roatán (Box and Canty
2012).
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
39
The original fish buyers on the cays were focused on quality of product to supply
the high end export market. As a result most reef fish were not a target of
fishermen because there was no market. The new shift in market demand from
quality to quantity encouraged by Roatán Seafood, and a move from specific
target species to a general buying policy for all reef fish, encourages the
adoption of unselective fishing gears such as traps and nets by fishers and a
push towards volume and away from sustainability. This ultimately drives
overexploitation and the adoption of unsustainable fishing practices as has
already occurred in countries such as Jamaica. Control of commercial
enterprises in their buying policies and restrictions in size and season are
essential for the management of the fish and fisheries of the Bay Islands due to
the overlap of the industrial fisheries with the small scale fleet.
40
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
Recommendations
1. Enhance the Control and Monitoring of Artisanal Fisheries in Honduras
a. Establish an online and currentregistry and license system for all
artisanal or recreational fishing activity and for all crafts used for
fishing
A registry and licenses are a fundamental principle for fisheries management and
are also a legal requirement under the current fishing law of 1959. There needs
to be a general shift in the control and regulation of artisanal fishing to provide
information on the number of people involved in fishing activities and to enable a
mechanism to place limits on the total amount of fishing that occurs in different
areas.
Licensing would provide the first step in granting fishing rights for different fishing
communities to fish in discrete areas, the concept of which already exists in
Honduran fishing law and which is also an essential step in rights based fisheries
management.
Overall there needs to be a paradigm shift to grant fishermen rights through a
license in return for them accepting responsibility for the fishery and in so doing
help prevent illegal activity or the entry of non-licensed fishers. In the end the aim
should be working to make sure that the cultural heritage of fishing is not
irreparably damaged and lost through over exploitation and that fishing is a right
for licensed fishermen that they then protect and conserve their own future.
The license system can work to help build fishermen into the management
framework where they take on specific responsibilities in accordance with the
licensing agreement and in support of management authorities.
Framework
All individuals that engage in any form of fishing activity where species are
caught and removed from the within the waters of Honduras must be registered
and have a valid fishing license.
Licences should annual and cover one or both of the following categories:
1) Artisanal fishermen who fish either for subsistence or for commercial
purposes
2) Recreational fishermen who target species for personal consumption
or with tourists;
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
41
A central on line registry system for current fishers should be built for artisanal
fishers that can link the stored information to the government departments of
DIGEPESCA, ICF and SERNA. In addition this data should be available to each
of the co-management organizations across each area. The database should at
a minimum link the name of the fisher with his national identity number, proof of
residence, and the license number of the boats he uses for fishing. This
information should be placed on a plasticated license card that should be carried
by the fisher when fishing.
Fishing should only be conducted by registered and licensed persons using
vessels registered and licensed for extractive fishing activities. Tourists should
only be able to fish with registered and licensed recreational fishers.
All subsistence fishers who may not be selling their fish still need to have a valid
artisanal fishing license to be able to catch or collect fish products.
It is highly recommended that the initial registration and licensing process is free
for all fishers and occurs in each community across the north shore. Along with
the license card a copy of the fishing regulations should be given out so all
registered fishers are clear on the regulations, conditions and responsibilities of
the license. A plastic license card should be given to fishers immediately on
registration. Subsequent renewal of the license should be made as simple as
possible and at minimum cost to facilitate compliance. Reprinting of cards would
be unnecessary if they were simply updated with a yearly decal, which are very
economical.
It is more important that fishing activity is accurately monitored through the
license scheme than for the license scheme be seen as a way to generate
income from fishermen for local or national authorities.
All fishers as a condition of license must follow all current fishing restrictions
including areas, closed seasons, minimum sizes and protected species. Failure
to comply with fishing restrictions should result in temporary or permanent loss of
the fishing license and this information should be stored in the fishing registry. By
maintaining an accurate registry with contact details for all fishers in the different
areas it will be much easier to inform this sector of any changes in the fisheries
laws or to encourage their participation in developing new fisheries management
strategies.
Similar to the registration and licensing of individual fishers it is essential to
monitor the size and extent of the fishing fleet. The licensing of fishing boats is
also a legal requirement under existing fishing laws. All boats from canoes
(Cayucos) to recreational vessels need to be registered and licensed if they are
to be used for any type of fishing activity.
42
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
An online vessel registry system connected to the fisher registry should be built
to record all boats used for fishing.
The information stored in the data base should include a description and photo of
the boat and the legal owner’s name, national identity number and permanent
address. Fishers in the fishing registry should be linked to the use of one or more
of the registered boats even if they are not the owner.
A license and a non-transferable license number should be given to each boat
and that number clearly painted on the bow of the boat or cayuco as well as on a
specific fishing flag that should be hoisted when fishing. Larger boats with a
horizontal surface such as a roof or covered stern or bow should also paint the
license number on this surface to enable identification from the air.
The licensing of boats used for fishing should occur at the same time as the
licensing initiative for fishermen and again be at minimal cost in the first year.
Subsequent annual renewals should be kept as economical as possible.
It is more important to have accurate records than to use boat registration for
artisanal fishers as an income stream for the fishing or other authorities.
The registration system should be accessible online for the relevant authorities
so that boats current status can be easily reviewed. Owners whose boats are
involved in illegal fishing activities either in Honduran waters or in the territorial
waters of other countries should incur penalties irrespective of whether they are
on board or not. Ownership of a fishing vessel comes with the same
responsibilities that active fishing does and owners must ensure that anyone
using their boats are compliant with the current fishing regulations.
b. Encourage the formation of fishing cooperatives or associations
that represent the fishermen from different sectors or
communities in the different areas and provide a framework for
management rather than a mechanism for receiving financial
assistance.
To enhance the efficacy of management and to provide a system whereby the
interests of fishermen are heard in the governance system, it is important the
fishers are incorporated into fishing cooperatives or associations that can
represent and voice their interests.
These fishers groups can help develop fishing management ability for their local
areas and can also facilitate the transfer of information from the fishermen to the
government authorities and vice versa. By forming groups it is possible to
connect fishers in a pyramidal structure linking a large number of individual
fishermen through their local groups, to representation across the islands, across
Honduras and across the region. These groups should be specifically targeted
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
43
for capacity building rather than simply as a recipients of equipment or financial
donations.
Framework
Fishermen in the different areas of the north shore that are geographically
separated should be encouraged to form local fishing associations which can
become local hubs for fishing control and monitoring with the aim to eventually
provide the framework for rights based management.
These associations should then be facilitated in forming bridges to develop
common agendas between areas and to resolve spatial conflicts that may occur
between fishermen.
Associations should be formed for artisanal fishers and for recreational fishers
and these groups used as the most efficient way to collect and record fishing
information as well as to become the point of contact for all communications with
fishermen on the Bay Islands.
c. Establish a mandatory catch record system for each fishing
sector.
Fishing data is currently inadequate for most of the north shore and islands of
Honduras, yet this information is a fundamental pre-requisite for the management
of marine resources. It is essential that the total level of harvest is monitored and
that this can be linked to the total level of fishing effort directed at each target
species in each area.
Participative fisheries monitoring enables fishers to be involved in the
management of their resource and see how their actions change the status of the
fisheries. Accurate fishing data can also help determine sustainable catch levels
and provide important information on the trends in the different fisheries over
time so that the efficacy of different management actions can be measured.
Recording species specific catch data and the location of the fishing trip is an
existing legal requirement for the captain of each fishing boat each time they
return from a fishing excursion as defined in the fisheries law of 1959.
Framework
As a condition of the fisher license all fishers should record their fishing effort and
catch levels based on a simple monitoring system. At a minimum, the location,
hours spent fishing, gear and weight per species landed should be recorded after
each fishing trip irrespective of the type of fishing activity the fisher was involved
in.
This can be facilitated through the associations or cooperatives, who should be
encourage to develop centralised monitoring systems to report their fishing
activities. Those fishers who are organised through a market chain should have
their catch included in the record systems established by fish buyers in the
community.
44
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
Fishing cooperatives or associations should be helped to develop the capacity to
be able to record and monitor their members fishing activity as a way of
monitoring their own success. To facilitate this there is an online system that has
been developed for fishing monitoring in Honduras8, which not only stores the
information but can provide instant reports on the current status of their fishery
compared to previous information. This can be connected to the relevant
authorities so that monitoring of fisheries can occur in real time and provide a
mechanism to link fishers to management authorities based on actual landing
data
d. Register seafood buyers including hotels and restaurants and
have them maintain records
The market chain is one of the principle drivers of fishing effort in the Honduras
yet there is virtually no control over markets or commercialisation of fisheries
products beyond the industrial packing plants. Monitoring the local trade or
export of seafood is critical to ensure that fishing activities are conducted in
accordance with fishing restrictions and regulations designed to maintain the
sustainability of the fishery. In addition developing information on the
consumption levels and market demands for fish products can help improve both
consumer awareness about different seafood products as well as encourage
markets, restaurants and hotels to play a role in the management of the local
fisheries.
Framework
Main markets should be monitored by fisheries inspectors. This is a lot more
economical than inspections at sea. Fish wholesalers should be registered and
licensed and must maintain records of their purchase and sales. Once again this
can be completed through an online data system.
All restaurants that sell seafood should also be randomly monitored to ensure
they are not selling species out of season. This very simple monitoring can help
remove market drivers for illegal fishing.
Data from the market chain can be used by the management authorities to
review the seafood consumption in the country and provide an extra point of
control on artisanal fisheries that are the main suppliers of national consumption.
In addition, mandatory record keeping decrease the opportunities for illegal
seafood trade and provide an opportunity to inform vendors and consumers alike
about the current regulations pertaining to seafood.
8
This free fisheries monitoring tool is available at www.captura.ourfish.org and fishers or fishing groups
can register free to use the system
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
45
e. Marine park co-managers and fisheries groups must take an
active role in fisheries management on the islands and support
the development of monitoring systems that can be used in the
evaluation of management efficacy.
Fisheries management is about more than simply trying to enforce fishing
restrictions on to fishermen. It is about developing the information required to
make decisions and monitor the efficacy of the actions that are taken to improve
the status of the resources and the economic and other benefits they provide. To
encourage the participation of fishermen in the management process and to
improve their compliance in following sustainable practices there is a need to
change the paradigm of management and create new opportunities for greater
involvement in marine protection from a primary resource user group – the
fishermen. Designing regulations and then empowering separate authorities to
enforce them leads to division and conflict, which ultimately is not cost effective.
Developing sustainable use of marine resources requires complete participation
from the fishing groups who use the resource and a greater understanding by
this group that their own actions directly affect their own futures.
It is a recurring theme of this report that fisheries data for artisanal fisheries
across the north shore has not been routinely collected. Despite the key role that
fishers play in affecting the abundance of marine resources in the region, there
has been virtually no investment in developing data collection systems nor
incorporating systematic monitoring into a wider management framework for
marine and coastal resources. It is not possible to effectively manage protected
areas if the activities of the main stakeholder group whose actions are affected
are not being monitored.
There is therefore and urgent need to work with fishers and fishing groups to
maintain up to date information on fishing activities, including ensuring that catch
information is being recorded by registered fishers, that fishers have fishing
licenses and that infractions of fishing regulations are recorded in a consistent
and centralised manner.
Framework
As a condition of the co-management agreements of between ICF and nongovernmental organisations of marine and coastal area, or new agreements with
fishing associations for local management of marine areas these groups should
be responsible for ensuring that the fishing activities under the area of their
jurisdiction are properly monitored. This should include the centralised logging of
infractions on fishing regulations encountered by them or reported to them. In
addition in areas where co-managers are not present, investment should be
made in empowering local fishers to form management units to help enforce local
fishing laws.
An online database is available to help with these tasks and to help record what
enforcement actions are taken for fishing infractions as well as develop an
46
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
offenders database for repeat offenders9. This data base could easily be linked to
the fishing licensing data base to assist in licensing compliance for fishing
activities.
In addition co-managers and empowered fishers groups should be supported to
conduct coral reef health evaluations at least every two years to include
assessments of fish biomass using the regional standard protocol AGRRA.
These surveys should occur inside and outside designated protected areas
including no take reserves, so that the effect of different controls on fishing
activity can be evaluated. Information should not only be freely available on line
and disseminated directly to the local fishing communities so they have access to
information about the status of their resources and also understand the benefits
of different levels of marine protection around the Bay Islands.10
2. Regulations and Management
The following are management suggestions and regulations that should be
bought in for the artisanal fisheries of the North shore and Bay Islands.
a. The harmonization, clarification and publication of fishing gear
restrictions for all the north shore and Bay Islands
There is currently some confusion in the legal fishing gears that can be employed
in the different zones of the north shore. Also given the high levels of presumed
connectivity between the areas it is illogical not to harmonise artisanal fishing
regulations for the whole area.
It is recommended that in addition to the national fishing regulations in force at
the current time that the following fishing gear regulations are adopted for all
fishing activity within the North shore with further restrictions in specifically
protected areas



No fish traps of any kind, style or design
No spear fishing except registered Hawaiian slings used to catch
lionfish
No fishing whilst SCUBA diving with the exception of licensed lion
fish catchers with hawaiin slings
9
A free online reporting tool for marine patrols or other parties involved in regulating fishing activity is
available at www.patrol.ourfish.org and applications for access to this system can be made through this
webpage.
10
A free online coral reef monitoring tool into which users can place AGRRA survey data and see their
results displayed graphically in comparison to Healthy Reefs for Healthy People metrics is available at
www.agrra.ourfish.org
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
47
b. Protection of groupers (serranidae) in the Bay Islands and north shore
Groupers are heavily overexploited across their range in Honduras. The targeting
of their spawning aggregation sites has affected their potential to recuperate their
populations by drastically reducing their spawning stock biomass thus affecting
their total reproductive output.
Two species of grouper found in Honduras (Epinephelus striatus and E. Itajara)
are on the endangered species list in the United States and on the IUCN red list.
Because it is not possible to effectively separate the fishing of one species of
grouper from another and based on the precautionary fisheries principle as
established by the UN the following regulations are suggested for all groupers:
i. No grouper species of the genus Epinephelus can be landed or
traded from December 1st to March 15th of each year.
ii. No fishing can occur within a 500m radius of known spawning
site during these same months.
iii. All fish fillets or salt fish produced during the months of October
to April must either be made from whole fish or if filleted must
maintain a strip of skin the width of the fillet and no narrower
than 3cm so the species of origin can be identified
c. Instigate minimum sizes and restrictions for the species of fin fish that
can be commercialised including by industrial fishing plants in the Bay
Islands and La Ceiba
The commercialisation of undersize fish species places at risk the sustainability
of local and national marine resources. The industrial packing plants hold a key
position in the management of fisheries in that they create an large demand for
different products that artisanal fishermen then seek to fill.
Irresponsible buying practices motivate irresponsible fishing activities. It is crucial
that the fish packing plants develop a code of conduct for ethical purchasing. It is
recommended that commercialisation of herbivorous fish species to include all
species of parrotfish of the family Scaridae, genus Scarus and Sparisoma and all
species of surgeon fish family Acanthuridae of the genus Acanthurus is
prohibited. In addition the following species should not be commercialised under
these minimum sizes:
Groupers (only in season)
Epinephelus striatus
50 cm
Epinephelus guttatus
35 cm
Epinephelus fulvus
20 cm
Mycteroperca bonaci
45 cm
Mycteroperca venenosa
45 cm
Shallow water snappers
Lutjanus analis
50 cm
Lutjanus synagris
25 cm
Lutjanus apodus
20 cm
Ocyurus chrysurus 25 cm
Deep water snappers
Lutjanus vivanus
Lutjanus buccanella
Apsilus dentatus
Etelis oculatus
45 cm
25 cm
45 cm
45 cm
d. Enforce the current legislation on the lobster season and conch closure
within the artisanal fisheries sector
The conch and lobster fisheries are both under national fisheries regulations.
These regulations need to be enforced at a local level for the artisanal fisheries
48
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
and local and national seafood consumption. This is especially important in the
main tourism centers with the continued and growing restaurant demand for
these seafoods.
Framework
Lobster should not be available for sale between March 1 st and June 30th of each
year. Lobster tails should be above 140mm in length and they should not be sold
chopped. Conch should not be for sale at any time and should simply not be on
the menu of any establishment until the status of the fishery is clarified by the
DIGEPESCA.
Random checks that shops or restaurants are not selling or serving conch or
lobster out of season are essential to ensure these national fisheries laws are
complied with. Establishments should be subject to on the spot fines on an
increasing scale for repeat offences.
3. Research Program
The following are suggested themes for research in support of the effective
management of artisanal fisheries on the north shore. Topics include both
ecological and fisheries work as well as market research and development to
enhance the value of fisheries products and develop new niche markets for local
fishers.
a. Conduct market research to develop links between local artisanal
fishing groups and local and regional businesses that they can connect
directly to to sell responsible seafood caught by local fishermen
The majority of seafood caught across the north shore and especially in the
fishing hubs such as Utila cays is sent for export to the United States. Whilst this
used to be the only market with a constant demand, the growth of tourism
especially in the Bay Islands means that there is now a strong demand much
closer to the source. At the present time the tourism sector is forced by limited
supply to purchase imported seafood from china, farmed fish from aquaculture or
illegally landed fisheries products from the industrial fishery. Connecting fishers
with local markets can help improve incomes whilst developing incentives for
responsible fishing. This could be especially important to connect local fishermen
from the Moskitia with national markets as they transition out of the lobster dive
fishery.
Framework
Conduct market studies and develop small business plans to identify
opportunities that can link small scale fishers in the different communities with
market segments in the Bay Islands and wider Honduras. Opportunities do exist
to connect fishers for niche products such as sushi grade tuna to high end
consumers as demonstrated by the Fair Fish pilot program. The market structure
on the north shore of Honduras has changed considerably since the small scale
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
49
fisheries were established yet the market chains have remained largely
unchanged despite obvious demand for seafood within the tourism sector.
Connecting fishers grouped in associations or cooperatives to markets and
developing a code of conduct for responsible fishing as a condition of purchase
will help instigate change in the management of the artisanal fisheries and help
to link marginalised communities on the north shore and within the Bay Islands to
the benefits of the developing tourism industry.
e. Develop alternative fishing methods for lobster including the use of
lobster shades
The lobster fishery with SCUBA will close permanently on the 28th February
2013. From this date onwards lobster will only be able to be caught by skin diving
or in traps. Lobster shades provide a viable fishing mechanism that is widely
employed in Belize and Mexico by groups of artisanal fishers. This approach may
provide a viable option for sets of fishers affected by the closure especially in
Utila cays, Guanaja and Porvenir and also assist fishers comply with lobster
regulations and self regulation.
Framework
Establish pilot projects to implement lobster shades in locally managed fisheries
through fishing associations to assess their feasibility for application to local
conditions. Markets for shade caught lobsters could be identified locally for niche
products including “live” lobster and whole fresh lobster.
Locations for this pilot should be Utila cays, Punta Gorda, St Helena, Guanaja
and Porvenir as these communities most reliant on fishing for lobster and conch.
f. Support connectivity studies on ecological and commercially important
fish species including grouper, lobster, conch, snapper and parrotfish
and the habitats that support them
Understanding the connectivity of marine resources in space and time is
essential to design effective marine management and to prioritise areas for
protection. Connectivity studies including the use of mark recapture, genetic or
molecular techniques can help answer important management questions such as
the size of spatial units for management, whether protected areas are placed
correctly, and how likely they will be help recuperate neighbouring populations
through larval supply or spill over.
Framework
Support should be provided to research that focuses on the spatial management
of marine resources especially the use of connectivity studies to identify links
within and between the Bay Islands and to the wider ecosystem of the north
coast of Honduras. Collaborative partnerships should be encouraged which can
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THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
link local and national NGO to international scientists and institutions with the
technical capability of processing genetic or molecular samples. DIGEPESCA
and ICF should facilitate this work through the expeditious supply of export
permits for these types of studies when there are guarantees that the results are
directly linked to pertinent management questions for the marine resources of
Honduras. A condition of the research permit should be that the results will be
made freely available to all relevant organisations and institutions in Honduras.
4. Education
There is a need for clarity in the fisheries regulations pertaining to artisanal
fisheries, but also wider awareness about the functional importance of marine
systems and the critical role which fishermen play in structuring that system.
As a general recommendation there should be broad scale training, awareness
and educational programs aimed at improving the understanding in all sectors,
from fishers, markets and consumers about sustainable fisheries. Information
should be widely available across all the coastal zone especially in all the dive
shops, hotels restaurants, shops etc. and in local schools and other educational
establishments. Ultimately the aim should be to put marine management and
sustainable fisheries into the national dialogue and raise it political priority to be
of central concern in development strategies.
5. Additional Recommendations
a. Spatially and temporally Integrate the management of lagoon fisheries
into near shore fisheries so that fishermen can switch between these
resources at different times of year.
b. Integrate management plans for the area of reefs between Utila, Tela
Bay and Cayos cochinos and connect the existing protected areas in
these area into one overarching artisanal fishing area with unified
management
c. Focus attention on the facilitators perpetuating illegal fishing activity in
the Gulf of Honduras by increased vigilance in the fish markets of
Puerto Lempira
d. Support the development of local rights based fisheries management
as a new paradigm for artisanal fisheries management on the north
shore
e. Support the establishment of no take reserves within marine managed
areas as a corner stone of local management initiatives.
THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES OF THE HONDURAN CARIBBEAN
51