With more than 15,000 kilometers of coastline, Mexico is a country privileged by the abundance and variety of its fishery resources. The vast natural heritage of its coasts, seas, and oceans, makes fishing a first-class economic activity. According to INEGI figures, there are about 300,000 active fishermen in Mexico and an estimated 12 million of people depend on fishing directly or indirectly. In the northwest, this panorama acquires a singular nuance since at least 70% of the annual production of the fishing sector in Mexico is obtained in this region. This presents us with the challenge of guaranteeing sustainable fishing practices and the co-responsibility of protecting ecosystems on the part of producers, communities, government, and civil organizations.
From June 7th to 9th, in the city of Puerto Peñasco, was held the Regional Fisheries and Aquaculture Festival Sonora 2022 as a forum for reflection on the fishing resources of the northwest. . A first-of-its-kind event was hosted by the Intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans (CEDO) and the Government of the State of Sonora, and co-hosted by the Government of the State of Baja California. The festival included panels, workshops, conferences and collaborative work with 100 panelists from 80 institutions, as well as fishermen and fisherwomen, officials from the federal government, the state governments of Sonora and Baja California, the municipalities of Puerto Peñasco, Caborca, and San Luis Río Colorado, conservation organizations and companies in the fishing industry.
Our organization was represented by Dr. Pablo Alvarez Morales, Thematic Coordinator for Sustainable Fisheries, and Gabriela Ehuan, in charge of the Baja California Fishery Improvement Projects (FIP) for sea urchin and lobster. Our presence at the festival is due to our intense work in fisheries improvement, in training fishermen in the coastal towns of the Gulf of California and the west coast of the Mexican Pacific, as well as the generation of incentives for producers to implement better fishing practices. These and other tasks for the conservation of fishing resources have characterized us for more than three decades, with constant work on the coasts of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco and Colima, the Gulf of California and its islands, and Mexico’s exclusive economic zone in the Pacific that borders these states.
During the festival, Pablo gave a workshop on the design of FIPs and a presentation on recognition mechanisms for sustainable fisheries. He was also a panelist on ghost fishing, as it is known to the environmental impact caused by nets, hooks and other fishing gear that are abandoned, lost or discarded in the seas and oceans.
After the success achieved in this first edition, it is expected that the Regional Fishing and Aquaculture Festival will be a milestone for the fishing sector in the Upper Gulf of California and will become a tradition.
We invite you to collaborate with us to promote sustainable fishing and the protection of marine ecosystems.
For more information on this topic, contact: palvaez@pronatura-noroeste.org
