Fishing communities, local guides, Conanp and Pronatura Noroeste motivate a new model where conservation, the responsible use and local development go hand in hand with Isabela Island National Park.
At the end of November, in the Regional Fishing and Agriculture Festival, Pronatura Noroeste, Conanp and fishing cooperative visit the Isabel Island National Park (PNII) to share experiences and make progress towards a model where responsible fishing, eco-tourism and conservation coexist as pillars of local wellbeing.
During this visit, Pronatura Noroeste and CONANP follow the process alongside the Nayarit Riverside Federation, the Lobster Fishing Cooperative Society of Isabel Island, the Cooperative Society of Eco-Tourist experiences (Ecomata) of Santiago Ixcuintla, Nayarit and the Fishing Production Cooperative Society Punta Abreojos of Baja California Sur.
Located 70 Kilometers from San Blas, Isabel Island is a unique natural laboratory. Their colonies of blue and brown footed booby birds, frigates and high-productivity reefs put them as an ecological sanctuary.
Nature tourism and sustainable fishing as drivers for development
Since 1980, with Isabela Island National Park order, the conjoined work between the population, authority, academia, and civil organizations has enabled the control of invasive species, organized the tourism, and promoted sustainable fishing practices. Thanks to this effort, today, the island keeps a perfect ecosystematic health.
During our visit, we recognized the transcendental fishing history that holds the territory. The riverside communities have been doing this for more than a century using the island as a camping zone. During the last 25 years, far from distancing itself from the conservation process, the cooperative has taken on an important role.
The creation of the Isabel Island Lobster Fishing Cooperative and their commercial fishing permits in 2023 is proof that responsible use can coexist with the ecosystem protection.
Fruthermore, communal enterprises such as Ecomata have integrated nature tourism with strict environmental practices. Their guides – most family fishing children – transport visitors under minimal effect rules and support monitor and communal vigilance work
This model has reduced the fishing pressure, strengthened ecosystem values of the people who visit the island and has succeeded in generating income for the people in charge of these activities.
Strategic alliance with Conanp
Isabel island represents for us a proof that conservation only works when the communities are the protagonist. Their government based on clear rules, permanent monitor and co-responsibility has turned it into a national referent.
This vision matches with the one we share with Conanp which aims to improve the strategic alliance focused as much as ecological restoration, as strengthening sustainable value chains.
Our work together can accelerate the reef rescue and consolidate the blue lobster fishing as a responsible model of Mexican Pacific.
This fishing area with a high commercial value and deeply rooted in the fishing identity of the region offers a strategic opportunity to connect the conservation of the island with the comfort of the families in the cooperative.
From Pronatura Noroeste, we contribute with experience in adaptive management, tracking, participative monitoring, communal strengthening, good practices and responsible market access; meanwhile, Conanp provides the governance framework required to guarantee that the conservation stays in the long term.
The vision is to build a replicable model in other important zones for the country’s conservation, where good management of fisheries, responsible tourism and the communal participation can be sustainable.
In Isabel Island, the biodiversity conservation and the comfort of the fishing families grow together. It is in that way that we want to follow and keep strong.
Translated by: Dalhy Wong.
Reviewed and edited by: Héctor Sánchez.
