June 21, 2012 in Eco-Tourism, Marine, Rivers and Watersheds, Species
Preservation
BY FERNANDO BRETOS (2011 Kinship Fellow)
By engaging fishing towns at the community level, Fernando and his
colleagues are replacing short-term payoffs with more permanent social and
economic benefits.
In a recent PBS/Nature documentary, Cuba was coined
an “accidental Eden.” Its large size relative to low population, isolation, and
a series of progressive environmental legislation passed by the Cuban
government in the 1990s has spared many of its coastal resources the same
ecological fate as in neighboring Caribbean countries. I have worked in Cuba
since 1998, from where my parents departed in 1961. The island country has been
close to my heart and the basis for much of my work in conservation.
Collaborating with the University of Havana, I have studied and worked to
protect Cuba’s sea turtle populations.
Cuba’s 3,000km of coastline provides ample habitat for many species of
sea turtles, particularly green, loggerhead, and hawksbill turtles. Sea turtles
are enigmatic creatures. Migratory, shy and confined to an oceanic habitat for
most of their lives, it is difficult to estimate their true conservation
status. Based on historical accounts, including Christopher Columbus’ 15th century voyages to the Americas, hundreds of millions of turtles once
nested on Caribbean beaches. Turtle populations have dropped precipitously in
the Caribbean as a result of direct poaching of eggs and meat, bycatch, and
habitat loss. Cuba’s hawksbill turtles, until recently were the target of
government mandated fisheries at two different fishing villages, Cocodrilo on
Cuba’s isolated Isle of Youth and Nuevitas on Cuba’s north central coast. Over
five hundred animals a year were harvested at these towns since the 1960s, for
meat and shell products.
After relenting to constant pressure from the international conservation
community, the Cuban government agreed to a full moratorium on this hawksbill
harvest in 2008. By shifting from viewing turtles as a marine resource to be
exploited for meat and shell alone to one that can serve longer term economic
needs such as tourism, the future of sea turtles in the region is bright.
While successful in increasing local hawksbill populations, the
elimination of the fishery at Cocodrilo left many Cocodrilo fishermen facing an
uncertain future. Founded in 1904, Cocodrilo is an isolated fishing community
of 311 residents. Until recently it was known as Jacksonville, in honor of its
founder William Hawkins Jackson, a turtle fishermen from the Cayman Islands.
Since its founding, generations of English speaking Cocodrilo fishermen made
their living hunting sea turtles with the backing of the Cuban government who
paid them for their catch. The moratorium on the sea turtle harvest left many
fishermen without a livelihood and facing a turning point. How do they preserve
their culture and continue their livelihoods while protecting these animals?
In 2009, I reached out to Grupo Tortuguero (GT), a community activism
group in Mexico’s Baja California peninsula that developed a successful model
to engage similar fishermen. Mexico shares a similar relationship with sea
turtles. Until the Mexican government banned the fishing and poaching of sea
turtles in 1990, many fishing villages in Baja depended on sea turtles for
protein. As with Cocodrilo, these fishermen faced the difficult dilemma of how
to feed their families once the Mexican ban was implemented. A group of
conservationists, biologists, and fishermen formed GT as a community model to
engage fishermen in alternatives to turtle fishing such as eco-tourism,
research, and conservation. GT’s flagship outreach programs are festivals
during which fishing towns that once targeted sea turtles hold their own
community-wide celebrations to honor their relationship to these sentinel
creatures.
My Mexican colleagues and I convened the first-ever Cuba-US-Mexico
fisherman’s exchange on the Isle of Youth in April 2009 which provided a unique
forum for Mexican and Cuban fishermen to discuss ways to reduce sea turtle
mortality through their fishing activity. The successful sea turtle
exchange and workshop created considerable momentum within Cuba to provide
alternatives for fishermen.
One of the proposed measures announced during the 2009 workshop was to
provide continued outreach that engages all facets of the community, including
fishermen, women, and children in understanding the ecological and financial
benefits of protecting turtles. This would take the form of a sea turtle
festival in Crocodrilo featuring music, lectures, workshops, and children’s
activities that revolve around the conservation of natural resources. Fishermen
would learn how eco-tourism based on turtle encounters, such as when they nest
on beaches, could provide an attractive alternative to hunting these
charismatic creatures.
The first festival took place from November 18-19, 2011 in Cocodrilo.
The event featured educational workshops for adults and children, a forum for
local fishermen to express their inherent points of view about harvesting sea
turtle, and music and poetry about marine conservation by local artists. The
entire community of Cocodrilo, led by its mayor, Evelio Lavadie Montpelier have
taken full ownership in hosting subsequent events. The Ocean Foundation and GT
recently completed the Second Annual Cocodrilo Sea Turtle festival from May
18-21, 2012. One of the concepts discussed at this festival was the need to
encourage sustainable tourism to this rustic fishing community. This new type
of tourism would provide alternative income to the community, particularly
those who do not rely on fishing for their income such as women and elders.
Ideas include trips to the nearby reef at Punta Frances aboard artisanal
fishing boats, the establishment of bed and breakfasts and visits to a nearby
loggerhead turtle nesting beach called El Guanal.
By engaging fishing towns at the community level, my colleagues and I in
Mexico and Cuba are creating permanent social and economic alternatives to
those with a short term payoff.
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