Honduran and nicaraguan moskitia



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INTRODUCTION

In 1997, a World Bank managed study was conducted on the fisheries of Central America by a team from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The preliminary conclusions of the report were discussed at a regional workshop held in Costa Rica in July 1998 and led to identification of the need for a number of further investigations, including of the lobster fishery in the Honduran and Nicaraguan Moskitia.


Photo 1: Packing Lobster

The lobster fisheries of the Moskito Coast are currently the most valuable single-species fisheries of both these countries and also the main providers of local employment. Until the 1950s, exploitation of this resource was limited, owing mainly to the difficulty of access to international markets by isolated coastal communities lacking infrastructure for transport and processing. Production from the fishery began to increase in the 1970´s and in the last decade, production has risen to a total of a little under 7 million pounds of tails per year from the two countries. In recent years the Honduran catch has shown significant decline and there is concern for the sustainable future of the regional fishery.


In addition there has been a steady growth in the contribution to the total catch provided by SCUBA6 divers. Because of poor training and unsafe practice, a worrying number of the Miskito divers employed in this sector during the last twenty years have died or suffered permanent paralysis.
As part of its Non-Lending Services to Central America, the World Bank financed the study that led to this report as a step towards securing the future sustainable exploitation of the lobster resource and to reducing the negative social and health impacts of the activity.
The study team was provided by Arcadis Euroconsult of the Netherlands and comprised: seafood processing expert, Carmen Chacón; two marine biologists, David Currie (team leader) and Roel Schouten; and, anthropologist Jorge Travieso. The work was carried out during the months of July and August 1999 and involved periods in the Moskitia of both Honduras and Nicaragua. The main objective of the study was, through an examination of current conditions in the fishery and evaluation of available data, to prepare recommendations on:


  • Securing a sustainable future for the lobster fishery in the Moskitia

  • Improving the health and safety of the Miskito divers

  1. METHODOLOGY

There is a wide spectrum of parties interested in the current activities and future of the Moskitia lobster fishery and the study work plan reflected the need for broad consultation and information gathering. The consultants met with government representatives in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and Managua, Nicaragua to seek background and opinions on aspects of the lobster fishery. Amongst the Ministries consulted were those administering Fisheries, Environment, Labour, Health and Economic Development. About 90% of the consultancy time however was spent on the Moskito Coast with work bases being established in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua and Puerto Lempira, Honduras. A greater proportion of the time was spent in Nicaragua as the fishing fleet there is more diverse than in Honduras and required more detailed analysis. Nicaraguan Miskitos work not only as divers in the industrial fleet but also as divers and trappers in the artesanal fleet, catching lobster mainly in the area of the Miskito Cays Reserve. In contrast, the Honduran fishery in the Moskitia consists almost exclusively of industrial diving and fishing boats working from processing plants based in the Bay Islands of Honduras.


The field work included visits to the isolated coastal communities of the Nicaraguan Moskitia where many of the fishermen are based, to the lobster fishing areas in the Miskito Cays and to the coastal fishing community of Caukira in Honduras. In addition, members of the team visited: the upriver community of Ahuas in the Honduran Moskitia, from where a large number of Honduran industrial divers are recruited (Ahuas also has one of the two mainland Honduras decompression chambers); and, lobster processing plants in Roatan (in the Honduran Bay Islands) and La Ceiba, (an important Honduran coastal fishing port on the mainland).
A large amount of data on the biological aspects of the lobster fishery has been collected and analyzed by the national fisheries authorities, particularly in Nicaragua and the study team was able to benefit from this. There have also been several studies made by visiting fisheries experts during the last few years and the recommendations of these have been consulted for the present study. They include work by GTA Consultants Inc of Canada, under an ICOD7 funded project in 1993, directed at management of the Atlantic Coast lobster fishery with particular reference to the Southern Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS) and, an extensive evaluation of coastal resources carried out by the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, CCC, under a USAID8 funded project in 1996 and directed at the management of the Miskito Coast Marine Reserve. In addition, data from the processing plants and the results of a diver and fishermen census were analyzed to improve the estimation of the current degree of exploitation of the fishery. The census was carried out in Puerto Cabezas and the coastal communities to the north, to generate data on fishing and diving activities in the Moskitia; also concerning diving accidents that have led to paralysis or death.
Discussions were held with the widest possible cross-section of stakeholders interested in the fishery, including boat and processing plant owners, divers and trappers, middlemen, community leaders, members of the police forces and navies, representatives of the Ministries of the Environment, Fisheries, Health and of Labor, of local and regional government, doctors working with injured divers, US trained divers working locally, NGOsError: Reference source not found. In addition a Workshop was held in Puerto Cabezas on 12 August to present the study team’s preliminary findings to all interested parties and receive comments and recommendations from the stakeholders. Based on the lively discussion generated during this Workshop amongst the 64 attendees, the final report was prepared.
The team also mounted a one day training course in Puerto Cabezas on 6 August 1999 for 28 representatives from the industrial and artesanal diving fleets to learn first aid techniques for the treatment of divers suffering from decompression sickness (bends) and other related accidents. The course included training in safe diving practice, in the use of oxygen to treat afflicted divers on the surface and, in the use of underwater recompression techniques to treat the bends. A set of oxygen equipment was donated to the artesanal divers working in the Miskito Cays. Two further sets were donated to representatives of the industrial fleet to encourage the industry to install similar equipment on all their dive boats.
F

Photo 2: Sailboat Catch



inally, the making of a diving training video was initiated, (with commentary in Miskito), after it was identified that distribution of such a video to the dive boats and coastal communities would be likely to be a highly effective way of increasing diver awareness and safe practice.

  1. THE MAIN PROBLEMS FACING THE INDUSTRY



3.1 Sustainable exploitation of the resource
The Atlantic coast lobster catch makes a major contribution to local employment and to the national economies of both Honduras and Nicaragua. It is essential that fishing levels be maintained within sustainable limits to secure the future of this important sector. There is insufficient data on aspects such as recruitment to the fishery, fishing effort etc. to make a properly informed decision on whether the stock is being over exploited. However, a preliminary assessment is possible through examination of the available data coupled with anecdotal evidence of the surveys carried out under the present study.


    1. Diver safety

There has been an unacceptable rate of diver injury and death in the fishery, particularly during the last decade. While efforts made by some boat owners and NGOs have improved the situation in recent years, the poor level of training of local divers, a level of drug abuse, logistical problems in bringing injured divers to treatment centers and, poor working conditions for the divers within the industrial fleet, have allowed accidents to continue at a worrying level.


3.3 Alternative employment through economic development
The Honduran and Nicaraguan Moskitia are areas with a poorly developed rural infrastructure and a history of some neglect by the central governments. The years of armed conflict 1979-1989 also took their toll in the region. The formulation of policies advancing autonomy, particularly in Nicaragua, have made it more likely that the indigenous people will benefit in the future from the exploitation of natural resources such as fishing and timber extraction. There is a pressing need for rural development and poverty alleviation on the Moskito Coast, to strengthen the local economy, provide new sources of employment and reduce the pressure on resources such as lobster and turtles. Alternative employment opportunities would also help reduce diver accidents by decreasing the number of people with no other income source than diving, thus increasing catch rates and so reducing the depth and immersion times needed by the divers to make a living. There are strong indications that the current lobster yields could be achieved with less fishing effort.


    1. Product handling and diversification

Although the handling of product is of a generally acceptable standard in the region, the economic return on the Atlantic fisheries could be improved by better practice at sea and by diversification of product forms. This could include not only the processing and export of whole lobster, which would increase profit margins, but also the development of the marketing of fresh and frozen fish. The current low prices paid locally to fishermen for quality fish act as a disincentive to artesanal fishing development. Development of sales to Managua and of exports would allow higher prices to be paid locally while still maintaining profit margins for the processors. Historically the industry has tended to concentrate on lobster tails as an easy option and handling of this sole product has proved profitable enough for the processing plants not to bother to develop other opportunities.




4 THE LOBSTER FISHERY


4.1 Description of the study area
The Moskitia is an area of low-lying land covering much of the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua and the eastern Atlantic coast of Honduras. Its identity as a region is based on the communities of indigenous Miskito people who dominate the population in most of the area, although further south in Nicaragua, there are Garífuna9 and Creole10 communities also. On the western Atlantic coast of Honduras, the people are mainly Garífuna and Ladino11.
The Moskitia is an area of high annual rainfall (3,000-5,000 mm/yr) and frequent inundation. The more elevated land has pine and broadleaf forests, but the coastal strip is typified by poor laterite and gravel soils and numerous brackish-water coastal lagoons, some of which are several square kilometers in area.
There is limited seasonal cultivation of land crops for subsistence and some domestic production of cattle, pigs and chickens in the coastal communities, but for the most part the people are dependent on fishing for their livelihood. Lobster fishing is the main source of cash income for the Miskito people. The lobster fishery in the area is based on the extensive reef areas that lie 8-50 n.miles offshore, the Nicaraguan fishermen operating along most of the Atlantic coast from the so-called Miskito Cays (between Latitudes 14 and 15 degrees North) and down as far as the Costa Rican border. The Honduran fishermen work mainly in the eastern part of their national waters, and north of the border with Nicaragua, around reefs such as Half Moon Cay.
Fishermen in the area also capture turtles for local consumption, mainly the Green Turtle Chelonia mydas, but the capture of fin-fish is quite limited.
There is a substantial lobster fishery in the south of Nicaragua, based on diving and trapping boats sailing from Bluefields and Corn Island, where large numbers of Miskito fishermen are working, particularly as divers in the industrial fleet. However, the present study is directed mainly at the Miskito Cay area in the north of Nicaragua and the adjoining Cays lying a little further north in Honduras.



Fig.1: MAP




    1. The “Industrial” and “Artesanal” fleets

T

Photo 3: Sailboat


he lobster fishery of the Moskitia is divided into what are termed locally the “artesanal” and “industrial” sectors. The artesanal fishermen work on a smaller scale, from open boats of 10 m length or less, powered by sail (duri taras) or by outboard motors or small inboard diesels. They often operate in small partnerships, sharing investment, labor and revenues. In contrast the “industrial” sector typically uses decked steel vessels of 12 – 25 m length, powered by diesel inboard engines of 50-400 hp and the participants operate as small businesses, with investors assigning a captain/manager to the vessel. There is a permanent crew to handle the boat and in the case of the dive boats, each accommodates a group of divers and boatmen whose income depends on their individual daily catches. “Industrial” boats focus on lobsters and shrimp, while the artesanal sector targets lobsters, turtles and also fish.
In both the artesanal and industrial sectors lobsters are caught by two different methods: diving and trapping.



    1. History of the Fishery




      1. Nicaragua

Until the early 1960s, lobster fishing on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua was restricted to artesanal trapping around the Corn Islands in the south. In 1961, six trapping boats were brought from the USA to start industrial level operations in the area and by 1970 the fleet had increased to around 55 boats of 8-22 meters length. In 1973, following the results from research voyages of the M/v Canopus under a regional FAO program, fishing activity was extended to the northern part of the coast and by 1978 there were 100 lobster boats in operation on the Atlantic, both trapping and diving.


During the 1970s there was also a marked increase in artesanal activity and by 1978 the total catch had risen to 2.9 million pounds of lobster tails. (See Fig.2: Nicaraguan Atlantic Lobster Landings 1964-1998).



From 1979 the private fleet passed into State ownership and there was a marked reduction in fishing effort during the Sandinista years, with an average of only 18 boats in operation during the decade to 1989.


At the end of the years of conflict, a marked rise in production from the Nicaraguan Atlantic was promoted by the issue of licenses to foreign vessels and an expansion of the national fleet. Foreign vessels licensed to fish in Nicaraguan waters are required to land their catch at Nicaraguan ports. Catches rose steadily during the 1990s, leveling off over the last few years at a little under 3 million pounds of tails1. (Although official Atlantic coast landings fell from 2.94 million pounds of tails in 1997 to 2.39 million pounds in 1998, catches appear to have recovered in 1999: 1.30 million pounds of tails were landed in the first semester of 1999, compared to half-yearly figures of 1.08 million pounds in 1998 and 1.22 million pounds in 1997).
Currently, export of fisheries products is Nicaragua´s second most important hard currency earner (after coffee). The value of lobster exports, mainly to the United States, totaled

US$ 29 million in 1998, representing approximately one third of total fisheries export value from both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts (Table 1).




Table 1: Nicaraguan Lobster Exports

Year

1997

1998

Lbs tails

2,942,270

2,386,426

Value US$

34,199,683

29,198,000

During the last few years there has been an increase in the contribution made by artesanal fishermen to the total catch (from both diving and trapping) and a decrease in the number of licensed foreign vessels. (See Fig.3: Contribution of the Industrial and Artesanal Fleets to the Total Nicaraguan Atlantic Lobster Catch 1990-1998 and Fig.4: Nicaraguan Atlantic -Number of National and Foreign Licensed "Industrial" Boats in Operation 1992-1997). Twelve licensed foreign vessels were recorded as landing in Nicaragua in January 1999 but this had fallen to only two by June. Records show all foreign licenses as having expired in June 1999 and the question of renewal is under current review. A number of Honduran boats have merely re-flagged to Nicaragua however (6 in Puerto Cabezas alone during the first semester of 1999), so it is not clear that industrial effort has been reduced.


In mid-1999 there were 48 national 'industrial' boats active in lobster fishing on the Atlantic coast, about 30 of them working with traps and 18 with divers.
Published statistics on the fleet are unreliable as ADPESCA has only a limited presence on the Atlantic coast and national boats are not given an annual license, but instead, a long-term registration. Currently, for instance, there are 70 national vessels that since 1995 have been issued with 'indefinite' licenses for trapping and 23 more for diving, all for lobster. Many are no longer operational. When boats do stop operating for a period, or when Honduran vessels may have decided to fish or land in Honduras, the change in effort can go unrecorded.







As can be observed in Table 2, the contribution of the foreign industrial fleet to the total lobster catch has been falling steadily since 1992, while the national artesanal and industrial catch has been increasing in proportion. During this same period the total Nicaraguan lobster yield increased from 1.7 million pounds of tails in 1992 to around 3 million by 1997-99.




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