Honduran and nicaraguan moskitia
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SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONSFor the future management of the fishery Honduras Reduce the lobster fishing fleet Include the conch and fish trapping sectors in the same closed season as that of lobster Effectively police the ban on undersized lobster in the processing plants and of the 2¼ inch escape gap in traps Set up co-ordination of regional research on the life cycle and interdependence of Caribbean fisheries, including with Brazil, Cuba, Florida, and the rest of Central America NicaraguaEstablish effective prevention of illegal fishing (satellite tagging as an alternative…DEA funding?) Effectively police the ban on undersized lobster in the processing plants and on board ship Regulate and police a requirement for a 2¼ inch escape gap in traps Eliminate the foreign fleet Set provisional catch limit of 3 million pounds of tails pending improved monitoring Set up appropriate, reliable monitoring program, including puerulus counts Define and Miskitos Reserve limits to be a depth contour line To improve diver conditions Fund a dive training school in Honduras and another in Nicaragua, and/or train trainers Establish a requirement for diver certification to work in the industry, including competence and health On board training with video etc Establish local workshop for economic tank testing and equipment repair, perhaps involving disabled divers Encourage formation of diver associations in both countries, not for confrontation but to reach workable agreements with boat owners and plants and co-operate in the management of the resource. Also to keep bad divers out Place a depth limit on diving activities…90 feet? Consider phasing out industrial diving if alternative employment can be created Promote a conversion from diving to trapping, especially for the industrial boats Promote fishing by resolving marketing problems (appendix) Promote an Integrated Rural Development Project (appendix) APPENDIXA Recommended features of monitoring program, outline, costings B Diver training program and costings C The need for an Integrated Rural Development project for the Moskitia D Outline of a fisheries development project E Summary of data from encuestas F Notes of important info gathered and not included in main text G Terms of Reference H List of contacts/interviews I Full text of the socio-economic study APPENDIXA Recommended features of monitoring program, outline, costings Research on the settlement of puerulus in Australia and Cuba has demonstrated that production levels of lobsters can be reliably predicted one or two years ahead. If the production of lobsters can be predicted, the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) can be calculated. A reliable knowledge of the MSY is a rare luxury in fisheries management. There are not many species in the aquatic environment for which MSY can be reliably calculated in advance. That is probably the reason why most fisheries management plans are failing around the world. Reliable prediction of the MSY is one of the cornerstones for management of sustainable resource utilisation. Monitoring of puerulus settlement on the Moskito Coast will provide most valuable information for fisheries management of the lobster population in Nicaragua and Honduras. The inception of this monitoring program will involve the choice of the best locations of puerulus collectors and the determination of prevalent settlement time. The inception will be more or less research oriented and can be carried out by a marine biologist and students of Nicaraguan and Honduras universities with the assistance of an experienced scientist. The inception period may take 2 to 3 years, before the formulation of a detailed monitoring programme for Honduras and Nicaragua can be formulated, because it takes only a few months before the puerulus begin to seek shelter. After the inception period consistent monitoring can be carried out. The monitoring data and calculated MSY can then be compared with the actual fishing yields in Honduras and Nicaragua. Another cornerstone in fisheries management is a thorough knowledge of existing fishing efforts and yields. Lobster yields compared to MSY provide indications of the sustainability of the actual lobster fisheries. The difference in actual yield and MSY gives decision makers and fishermen justification to raise or reduce quota. Systematic and consistent monitoring of existing fishing methods, gears and fishing effort provides information on trends and patterns of fishing pressure on the lobster population and enables cost-benefit analyses. For instance, it may well be that lobster trapping will be much more cost-efficient than diving, but in a cash strapped economy, the high investment necessary for boats and traps might make trapping less attractive than diving. Consistent monitoring can provide the rationale for properly evaluating such decisions. In most fisheries there is a trend towards bigger boats and more advanced equipment, leading to increased fuel use and capitalisation. In the case of the Moskito Coast, however, where lobster fishing is the main source of cash income and the main supplier of employment, support to labour intensive fisheries will probably be the decision of choice. Monitoring of existing fishing methods allows adaptive fisheries management by intervention, if necessary, in unacceptable trends and patterns by way of declaring decrees under the fisheries law. The most important parameters to be monitored in the lobster fisheries are : weight, sex, size of lobsters traded at landing places against time; weight, sex, size of lobsters processed against time; weight, sex, size of lobsters locally consumed against time; number of boats, and fuel use against time; number of fishermen per boat; yield per boat against time; yield per fisherman against time; fishing equipment and gears per boat against time; fishing equipment and gear per fisherman; fishing location and depth ; yield per location and depth against time; yield for each fisheries method against time; bycatch (turtles and fish); health and safety of fishermen per fishing method and use of gear. Monitoring can be a tedious exercise, especially in artesanal fisheries. It is not feasible to send an army of monitoring personnel out to track down the activities of every artesanal fisherman. Monitoring is best based on sampling and on information gained from traders and processors. To avoid employing many people in the monitoring program, participatory monitoring by fishermen is a good solution. However, participatory monitoring in most cases can only be achieved if fishermen have a sense of ownership of the aquatic resources and if fishermen are involved in the management of the sustainable exploitation of that resource. In general, participatory monitoring can be achieved more easily in artesanal than in industrial fisheries. On the Atlantic Coast in Nicaragua there are currently only two officials who are gathering data, mainly from the processing plants and the industrial lobster fisheries. There is remarkably little actual monitoring activity in Honduras and Nicaragua, particularly in the artesanal lobster fisheries. During our survey of artesanal lobster fisheries at the Cays and along the coast north of Puerto Cabezas, we observed an eagerness of fishermen in explaining the hot issues in lobster fisheries, and a willingness in sharing their information. As part of community based fisheries development management in the protected area around the Cays where most of the artesanal lobster fishing is taking place, a participatory monitoring programme, including the settlement of puerulus will provide the rationale for sustainable artesanal lobster fisheries. The preliminary cost estimate of the monitoring component of the community based development management program, including provision of a team leader is as follows:
B Diver training program and costings Most of the divers working in the Moskitia lobster fishery have received no training and have merely picked up the rudiments of the activity from watching their peers or seniors, before starting using SCUBA gear themselves. The high level of accidents in the industry is due to a range of factors but they include: lack of understanding of the basic safety rules to follow; ignorance of the scientific principles underlying concepts such as water pressure and gas transport in the blood; and, due to the lack of other more rational explanations, an assumption that diving related afflictions such as the 'bends' are due to the malign influence of spirits. There are some 5,000 (mainly Miskito) divers working in Honduras and perhaps 1,500 in Nicaragua. Around 1,500 people in Honduras and 50 in Nicaragua have received training in the past from a qualified US diving instructor, Robert Armington, who now lives in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua. Previous funding came from the dive boat industry and there has also been support from sport diver groups in the USA, who have donated both training time and second-hand equipment. Under an EU funded program, the Honduran NGO, MOPAWI is running some further training up-grading courses this year in the Honduran Moskitia using local instructors taken from the group previously trained by Armington. They aim to reach up to 1,500 divers in the Honduran industry. There is a need for additional training in Honduras and even more urgently in Nicaragua. The diver training video planned under the present study will make a significant contribution to helping the problem. Another idea that is worth pursuing is the production of a radio soap opera directed at diver training. A 26 part serial was reportedly made and broadcast by a local radio station in Puerto Cabezas some years ago, and it was thought to be very effective. Unfortunately that radio station closed down and the assets were split up. It did not prove possible during the study to find the master tapes of this valuable work. Additional efforts could be made to locate the tapes or a new soap opera could be commissioned. Including scripting (US$3000) actors (US$5,000) and production costs (US$10,000) the total cost would probably be in the region of US$20,000. At the same time a valuable contribution to the diver health problem could be made by setting up mobile dive schools in Honduras and Nicaragua. The most effective method would probably be to hire a qualified instructor-of-diving-instructors from overseas for a period of 4 months, (2 months in Honduras and 2 months in Nicaragua. About a month would be spent training the trainers and a month spent in supervising their subsequent work.). This expert would train 10-15 instructors in each country and they would then be employed for 10 months each to run courses for all of those involved in the industry. A Project Manager with training experience would be required to plan and oversee the project and an agreement should be negotiated with the two governments that simultaneously an accreditation system would be put in place for the future control of the industry. This would include collaboration to track divers moving between the two countries (which they do freely) and a requirement that any diver wishing to work in the sector must have successfully completed a course of training and carry a carnet with photo' to identify him. Sanctions should be set for any boat captain found employing a non-accredited diver. Divers who have been 'bent' should be banned from further diving and their carnet cancelled. The competent authorities in each country should also be assisted and advised to continue the system of training and accreditation after the end of the project. It may also be desirable to include training courses at secondary schools during the life of the project. Provisional costings might be as follows: 4 months of work by Instructor of Diving Instructors US$ 20,000 IDI's travel and accommodation US$ 5,000 25 local Instructors employed for 12 months @ US$300 pm US$ 90,000 Local Instructor travel costs US$ 20,000 Project Manager salary 14 months US$ 14,000 Administration expenses US$ 21,000 Total Diving courses US$ 170,000 Soap opera US$ 20,000 Contingency US$ 10,000 TOTAL Diving courses and soap opera US$ 200,000 Consideration should be given to requiring : the industrial fleet of both countries to contribute around US$25 per diver on their payroll (total raised approximately US$25,000), the processing plants to contribute US$0.01 per pound of lobster tails exported by them in 1998 or 1999 (total raised approximately US$ 50,000) US$ 25,000 contribution form each of the two governments The balance of US$100,000 matching funding would be sourced from an Outside Donor. C The Need for an Integrated Rural Development Project for the Moskitia The Moskitia is an area of low-lying land covering much of the Atlantic seaboard of Nicaragua and the eastern half of the Honduran Atlantic coast. Its identity as a region is based on the communities of indigenous Miskito people who dominate the population in most of the area. Much of the land is subject to inundation, there are few roads, with no road access from the rest of the country at all, in the Honduran sector. Centers of population are spread out and remote. Travel is typically by boat and communication by short wave radio. There are no telephone or television links to much of the area in Nicaragua and indeed in many cases not even FM radio reception. The region has suffered from a degree of neglect by the central governments over past decades and investment in infrastructure and development has been minimal. The years of conflict 1979-1989 also took their toll, with forces fighting against the Nicaraguan Sandinista government operating from the region. Disarmament in the period since the war has not been total and a continuation of the lack of economic development of the area could have a de-stabilising influence. The Miskito people are proud, have an independent identity and a strong social structure in their communities, built around a system of village elders. The people are encountering difficulties as they move from a subsistence life style to participate in a market economy. There is little developed agriculture in the region, although most communities raise a few pigs, chickens and some cattle for domestic consumption. Most of the protein supply of the coastal peoples comes from fish or turtles and most of their income from the lobster fishery. The major source of employment for the young men of the region is diving for lobster. Lack of diving training, problems of drug abuse and of poorly maintained equipment have led to a significant number of accidents over the last ten years amongst the Miskito divers. Some efforts are being made to improve their working conditions but deaths and paralysis are still disturbingly common in the industry. With no government social safety net, injured divers are dependent for food and care on families ill-able to support them, when they can no longer dive. Many of those involved in the lobster diving industry, from the boat owners to the divers themselves, would wish to leave the activity if there were some other opportunity for employment. Under-employment is widespread in the region however and there are few alternative sources of income available to the population. There may be potential to develop other fishing activities to offer alternative gainful employment (see Outline of a fishing development project below) but there is also a strong case for considering an integrated rural development project for the region. This would look at all aspects of the problem of assisting the development of economic activity in the Moskitia; including roads, communications, schools, policing, agriculture and so on. There are vast areas of inundated and also dry hilly land that might offer opportunities for the development of agriculture. Rice, cashew nuts, cattle and forestry have been suggested as possible candidate crops by local experts, but a full analysis of the available soil resources is needed. In the first instance a study should be mounted involving a team of specialists including an agronomist, a social anthropologist, an economist, rural and infrastructure development specialists, to assess the needs and potential of the region and formulate a project to assist sustainable development in the region. The study should be carried out in close co-operation with the local communities and consideration should be given to seeking ways to route finance directly to the target population rather than through central government. Sustainable development of the region would help reduce political instability, work against drug traffickers active in the area, help the specific situation of the lobster divers and offer increased opportunities for women in education, commerce and employment: and, if carried out sensitively, at the same time preserve the strong community values and traditions of this indigenous Indian people. D Outline of a fisheries development project for the Nicaraguan Moskitia The Moskitia is an area of low-lying land covering much of the eastern seaboard of Nicaragua and the eastern half of the Honduran Atlantic coast. Its identity as a region is based on the communities of indigenous Miskito people who dominate the population in most of the area. Much of the land is subject to inundation, there are few roads and generally poor communications The region has suffered from a degree of neglect by the central governments over past decades. The years of conflict 1979-1989 also took their toll, with forces fighting against the Nicaraguan Sandinista government operating from the region. Disarmament in the period since the war has not been total and a continuation of the lack of economic development of the area could have a de-stabilising influence. The Miskito people are proud, have an independent identity and a strong social structure in their communities, built around a system of village elders. The people are encountering difficulties as they move from a subsistence life style to participate in a market economy. There is little developed agriculture in the region, although most communities raise a few pigs, chickens and some cattle for domestic consumption. Most of the protein supply of the coastal peoples comes from fish or turtles and most of their income from the lobster fishery. The major source of employment for the young men of the region is diving for lobster. Lack of diving training, problems of drug abuse and of poorly maintained equipment have led to a significant number of accidents over the last ten years amongst the Miskito divers. Some efforts are being made to improve their working conditions, but deaths and paralysis are still disturbingly common in the industry. With no government social safety net, injured divers are dependent for food and care on families ill-able to support them, when they can no longer dive. Many of those involved in the lobster diving industry, from the boat owners to the divers themselves, would wish to leave the activity if there were some other opportunity for providing employment to the local people. Under-employment is widespread in the region however and there are few alternative sources of income available to the population. A number of studies in recent years have shown that there are substantial fish resources off the coast that could be exploited by artesanal fishermen, particularly in the Northern Atlantic Autonomous Region, RAAN, based around Puerto Cabezas. Development of fisheries for high value bottom fish such as snapper and grouper and also for small pelagics such as mackerel would offer attractive employment alternatives to the lobster divers and also to the turtle fishermen. Responding to international pressure, people in the local communities no longer catch turtles for outside sale, but many thousands of turtles are taken each year (mainly the green turtle Chelonia mydas) for domestic consumption. Turtle meat is in fact the main meat source for the coastal communities. There is strong evidence that turtle stocks are being irreversibly damaged. The green turtle does not breed until it is about 30 years of age at a size of around 87 cm shell length. Almost all the turtles currently being landed are smaller than this, suggesting that there could be a dramatic drop in population to near zero levels within the next 20 or 30 years. Only by protecting juveniles now can the future sustainability of the population be secured. The reason that fishing for fish such as snapper and grouper has not developed in the RAAN is that the market price local fishermen can obtain (C$3 per pound) is uneconomic. Prices are significantly below average Central American levels for two reasons. The first is that the seafood processing plants have only been in operation for the years since the end of the war and their resources have been concentrated on processing and exporting frozen lobster tails, a high margin business. They do not have the financial or human resources to develop a new business such as fish marketing that they see as involving a lot of effort for smaller margins. As a result, the plants buy fish at a low price, process it badly and use it to fill up incomplete containers of lobster, for sale at whatever price it can achieve on the US market. No effort to improve product quality or develop markets has been made. The second reason is the infrastructure problems of the region that have discouraged Managua based investors from developing the potential of the Moskitia. Pacific Coast businessmen see the Moskitia as a more difficult place to set up business than the Pacific side of the country due to poor infrastructure and communications and their unfamiliarity of how to manage employees and local relations in the distinct Miskito social environment. There are still ample investment opportunities in the meso-american zones of the country that are suffering from a shortage of investment capital and there is no need to look to the Pacific coast for new business. There is however good potential to establish a business in Puerto Cabezas handling quality fresh fish for the Managua and export markets. The prices that could be paid to fishermen would be attractive, promoting a diversification of fishing activities on the coast away from just lobster and turtle, and also offering new sources of gainful and less dangerous employment to a growing population of young men. Fishermen in the communities report that with prices of around C$5-6 per pound it would be attractive for them to go fishing There have been a number of projects mounted by international agencies in Central America over the last decade to promote artesanal fisheries development and probably the majority have ended in failure. There is an opportunity to learn from the mistakes of these projects and follow a more successful model. The financing of co-operatives (for instance in projects by organisations such as PRADEPESCA, the EU funded regional fisheries project) has generally not worked well. Financing individuals has also had its difficulties. A recent Japanese funded project on the Northern Atlantic coast of Nicaragua (DIPARAAN) provided 44 well equipped fibreglass fishing boats for individuals in various communities along the coast, with the aim of promoting exploitation of new resources such as snapper and grouper. A fisheries research vessel has been supporting the project and identifying the best fishing areas. There have been a number of problems in implementation. The loan value per boat was approximately US$ 42,000, a sum that appears out of proportion to the size of the vessel when compared to a boat built locally and a debt that few fishermen would be likely ever to repay. In August 1999 in a survey under the present project, it was identified that none of these boats were actually fishing as intended. The majority were being used to work with lobster divers, some were in operation catching turtles and some were carrying cargo between the communities and Puerto Cabezas. Loan servicing had been at 25% or less in the first two years of the project. An artesanal fisheries development project running in parallel in the Southern Autonomous Region (DIPAL) has had more success. Here fishermen have been supported with equipment for fishing in the coastal lagoons but with the loans and repayments being handled through the private processing plants. Debt service has been high with few defaults and the project can be considered to be working well. The reality of fisheries co-operatives in the region is that they have often failed through a lack of adequate management, or dishonesty, or both. The experience of the various regional initiatives to promote artesanal fishing suggests that a combination of private enterprise and community fishermen is much more likely to succeed in developing a successful new business. An entrepreneur provides the management skills, high quality processing and marketing, but under a structure that brings benefits and development to poor fishermen. With the right checks and balances in place this can be a powerful formula for successful development of artesanal fishing resources. It is clear that a valuable fish resource is available within accessible distance from Puerto Cabezas. The exploitable stock of snapper and grouper has been provisionally estimated by fisheries scientists at between 5,000 And 8,000 MT per year. The DIPARAAN project’s marked success has been in the profitable marketing in Managua of the fresh fish caught during its research operations (at market prices of US$1.20-1.35 per Lb whole). There is a strong market for quality fresh fish in Managua and preliminary analysis suggests that selling to Managua would offer a profitability equal to that of the more costly air freight export of fresh fish to the US and, at less risk. An expatriate US entrepreneur living in Puerto Cabezas has already been identified as being interested in developing a fresh fish marketing business along the following lines: Assistance to the artesanal fishermen would be sought in the form of an ODA loan to buy a 80 foot mother ship, twenty dories and some fishing gear (approximate cost US$ 110,000). The entrepreneur’s marketing company would be responsible for collecting the loan repayments along the model that has been successfully developed by DIPAL. The marketing company would manage the fishing operation and put in a processing plant, including adequate ice making capacity etc. (approximate cost US$ 80,000). The mother ship would carry the fishermen and their dories out to the fishing grounds and provide accommodation, food and storage of the catch, returning to port at intervals during the daytime hours to unload and replenish with ice etc.. The fishermen would be paid a fair and attractive market price for the fish they caught under a contract agreed at start-up with the ODA. Preliminary analysis suggests that this will be significantly above current levels paid in the area and enough to motivate lobster and turtle fishermen to move into this new sector. As the business develops there will be opportunities for export of fresh product to the US in due time it is likely that plans to build an international airport in Puerto Cabezas will be fulfilled, greatly facilitating fresh exports. E Summary of Data from Surveys Directory: archive -> website00967A -> WEB -> DOC archive -> Gary C. Kessler archive -> Tossups center of the known universe open 1998 Combined packet of Tennessee I and utc blue archive -> PriceWaterhouseCoopers Archive 148 linear feet in 98 record cartons and 4 flat boxes. Biography/History archive -> In this issue archive -> United states archive -> - archive -> The Tropical Rainfall Potential (TRaP) Technique. Part 1: Description and Examples Abstract archive -> United states archive -> Prediction from Weeks to Decades DOC -> Document of The World Bank Download 0.68 Mb. Share with your friends:
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