Honduran President Burns Confiscated Shark Fins

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On May 31, 2012, Honduran President Porfirio Lobo Sosa bunt 184 pounds of shark fins confiscated by the Honduran navy. Sosa and supporters hope that the event will help send a message to the public that shark finning is illegal and the law will be enforced. They also hope to gain support for implementing programs that provide a sustainable livelihood from the ocean without killing sharks or overfishing other resources.

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I am a guardian of the reef

by iLCP

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Sustainable Fishing practices in La Mosquitia Honduras

by iLCP

Produced by iLCP Footage and editing by Tamino Castro Images by Cristina G. Mittermeier and Mikael Castro Special Consideration to the Center for Marine Ecology for support

The Moskitio people, an ethnic group living on the Mosquitio Coast, have made their living primarily as diving lobster fishermen. By diving, we mean scuba diving. As the lobster have been depleted near-shore, lobster divers have been forced to move offshore, necessitating deeper, longer dives to ensure their catch. These lobster divers are engaged in the most dangerous job in the fishery world. Many are killed or paralyzed as a result of the bends, as they are driven to dive deeper and more often in order to make a decent living.

Meanwhile, due in part to over harvesting, and in part to concern for these divers’ safety, the diving lobster fishery in this area will end next February. So, the question is “what to do?” The Center for Marine Ecology, working with the international Global Fish Alliance, is using this closure as an opportunity to implement a livelihoods transition plan to establish sustainable fisheries and no-take zones in the Honduran region of the Mesoamerican Reef. Several interesting projects make up this plan. A group of approximately 300 soon-to-be former Moskitio lobster divers will begin an artisanal lobster fishery program using casita cubanas - lobster refuges that provide shelter for the lobsters, aggregating them in one place so they are easier to collect.

 

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Punta Gorda Fisherman

by iLCP

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Guardians of the Reef - Spanish with Subtitles

by Media Balance

With the ban on SCUBA lobster fishing imminent, the residents of La Moskitia, Honduras, are poised to transition to a safe, sustainable, economically secure future in a fishery employing artisanal fishing practices.

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World Oceans Day 2012

Jun 8, 2012

It's World Oceans Day.  Learn about some of the challenges of maintaining a healthy Ocean in this piece created with The Center for Ocean Solutions in 2010.  The issues raised are still relevant.The Center for Ocean Solutions and iLCP joined forces to create a multimedia production about the effect of climate change on the world's oceans. We worked with some of the leading scientists and leading conservation photographers to illuminate ocean carbon absorption, how that affects the chemistry of the oceans and ultimately how the change in chemistry alters the ocean ecosystem in ways that are irreversible. Share or comment on this story >

Honduran President Burns Shark Fins, Reinforces Marine Sanctuary

iLCP Staff

Jun 1, 2012

With the Honduran declaration of its entire maritime waters as a shark sanctuary, the President provides legal protection to sharks.

Honduran President Porfirio Lobo Sosa yesterday reaffirmed his commitment to the ban on shark fishing in the Honduran Caribbean, enacted on June 24, 2011.  In a dramatic demonstration, Lobo Sosa personally put the torch to 144 pounds of illegally harvested shark fins recently confiscated in Laguna Brus, in Western Honduras.  A pungent smoke filled the air during the press conference that followed.“It is really strong to show the people that we are burning something that has value,” said Maximiliano Bello, Senior Advisor for Global Shark Conservation to the Pew Environment Group.  “But we needed to do that because there is still some illegal fishing going on, and it’s important to show people that fishing sharks is illegal.”With its declaration of making the nation’s entire maritime waters a shark sanctuary, Honduras provides legal protection to sharks from fishing and prohibits trade in their parts or derivatives. This is an important step to conserving these apex ocean predators.  Implementing management strategies for sharks that help reduce their by-catch by other fisheries, limits illegal trade and identifies ways to expand their conservation to neighboring countries is essential to their survival.The Center for Marine Ecology, based in Tegucigalpa, is working with local fishing communities and government officials to implement sustainable fishing practices that help ensure the long-term health of the marine ecosystems of Honduras.  “We want to reorient these fishermen, so they can take advantage of the resources that are abundant, said Dr. Steve Box, Executive Director of the Center for Marine Ecology. “This needs to be done in a sustainable way, so they don’t need to catch sharks. We need sharks in the ocean.”Center for Marine Ecology:The Center for Marine Ecology conducts progressive research on marine, coastal and island ecosystems. Initially founded on the island of Utila, the center now has projects across Central America spanning the Caribbean and Pacific coasts. Combining both applied ecological research and socioeconomic studies, their holistic research interests focus on providing the science with which to develop proactive management strategies for the sustainable use of marine and coastal resources.The International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP):iLCP enlists the skills and expertise of some of the best conservation photographers in the world to advance conservation efforts around the world.  iLCP is currently working with the Honduran-based Center for Marine Ecology to capture—in both images and video—the story of innovative community-driven efforts to conserve marine biodiversity and provide sustainable livelihoods in the Honduran Mesoamerican Reef region. Share or comment on this story >

Sustainable Practices from Fisherman to Fisherman

May 2, 2012

This is a great story of local fishers realizing the ecological, economic and societal value of conserving their marine ecosystem.

The unique nature of iLCP starts with our mission, to further both environmental and cultural conservation through ethical photography. We believe in the inherent link between people and place, and how the survival of each is dependent on the well-being of the other. This is one of the many reasons why the staff is excited to have just launched a new series of Tripods in the Blue expeditions in the Caribbean region of Honduras and Belize.Partnering with the Honduran-based Center for Marine Ecology, and with generous support from The Summit Foundation, these photo and video expeditions will help advance a campaign to secure 20% of the Mesoamerican Reef as a “no-take zone” for fishing. However, this is not a story of exclusion. Rather, it is a story of triple bottom line benefits (environmental, economic and societal) for the local fishing community. The Center for Marine Ecology is pursuing a multi-faceted strategy of using no-take reserves as a cornerstone of a broad fisher-led management and stewardship campaign in the Moskito coast, off shore cays of eastern Honduras and the Bay IslandsThis is, at its heart, is a cultural story. The Moskitio people, an ethnic group living on the Mosquitio Coast, have made their living primarily as diving lobster fishermen. By diving, we mean scuba diving. As the lobster have been depleted near-shore, lobster divers have been forced to move offshore, necessitating deeper, longer dives to ensure their catch. These lobster divers are engaged in the most dangerous job in the fishery world. Many are killed or paralyzed as a result of the bends, as they are driven to dive deeper and more often in order to make a decent living. Meanwhile, due in part to over harvesting, and in part to concern for these divers’ safety, the diving lobster fishery in this area will end next February. So, the question is “what to do?”The Center for Marine Ecology, working with the international Global Fish Alliance, is using this closure as an opportunity to implement a livelihoods transition plan to establish sustainable fisheries and no-take zones in the Honduran region of the Mesoamerican Reef. Several interesting projects make up this plan. A group of approximately 300 soon-to-be former Moskitio lobster divers will begin an artisanal lobster fishery program using casita cubanas - lobster refuges that provide shelter for the lobsters, aggregating them in one place so they are easier to collect. Much of that artisanal lobster fishing will occur on the reefs surrounding the off-shore cays, reefs that the Moskito fishers through this program of stewardship and protection will help to rehabilitate, to enhance natural habitat and lobster populations. To further enhance the Moskitio’s prospects for a decent livelihood, hook and line fishing for snappers will be conducted on these outer cays. Finally, by establishing camps on these outer cays from which they will fish, the local Moskitio fishers will serve as sentinels of the reef – thereby protecting these waters from illegal fishing by 'invasive' fishers (notably from Jamaica).A separate, but related, part of this effort is centered on the Bay Island of Roatan. The Garifuna community of Punta Gorda has a long, though not now sustainable, fishing tradition. In March, the Center for Marine Ecology worked with the community to create a fishing cooperative. The cooperative agreed to stop fishing parrotfish (whose numbers have decreased of late), and instead concentrate on catching the invasive, and very destructive, lionfish. Conserve the native fish, and work to control the invasive species – a great conservation combination. Better yet, restaurants in Roatan have committed to buying the lionfish (which iLCP’s Mark Christmas says is a tasty treat). These steps are some of the Roatan fishing community’s first toward implementing a locally designed and governed marine conservation plan.In total, this is a great story of local fishers realizing the ecological, economic and societal value of conserving their marine ecosystem, and iLCP is pleased to be helping tell this evolving environmental and cultural conservation story. We look forward to sharing more news from the Mesoamerican Reef region in future newsletters.Center for Marine Ecology Global Fish Alliance Share or comment on this story >

Lobster Fishing in the Mosquitia Reef

This will be the last "commercial diving lobster season." After that, however, hundreds of divers will be left jobless.

iLCP founder and Fellow Cristina Goettsch Mittermeier recently published this blog in The Huffington Post, a follow-up to a June 6th Huffington Post story by iLCP entitled "Honduras Shark Burning Reinforces President's Commitment To Ban Illegal Fishing".Both these articles highlight our marine conservation photo expedition last June in the Honduran Mesoamerican Reef.Using the imagery from that expedition, iLCP continues to work with our local partner, the Honduran-based Center for Marine Ecology (CME), to develop a variety of videos and other communications products that CME is using with federal officials, local communities and the Honduran public at large through nationally televised PSAs. Share or comment on this story >