Honduran and nicaraguan moskitia
E.1 Summary of key data from the industrial diver survey
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- Residence
- Number of years with current boat
- Average days off between trips : 4.8 Average tanks of compressed air used per day now
- Cayuquero (canoer) typically receives
- The depths they say
- Cash they take home
- F Notes of important information gathered and not included in main text
- H List of contacts/interviews NICARAGUA Managua
E.1 Summary of key data from the industrial diver surveyA total of 416 divers were interviewed. Marital status: 173 married (42%), 3 divorced (1%), 6 widowed (1%), 71 single (17%), 159 with partner (39%).Total of 412...there is an error to check of 4 Birthplace: 76 in Honduras (19%) 59 in Sandy Bay (14%) 42 in Puerto Cabezas (10%) 28 in Sisin (7%) 17 in Rio Coco and 16 in Daukra (both 4%) 13 in Awastara, 12 in Cabo Gracias, 12 in Auhyapi and 12 in Pahra (all 3%) then 10 (2%) or less in 57 other places.
Diving: average 16.1 years Number of years with current boat: average 2.0 Average months per year diving: 11.0 Average months per year in agriculture: 0.4 Average lbs of lobster tails caught per trip now: 122.3 in 11.0 days 5 years ago: 194.2 in 8.5 days 10 years ago: 237 in 4.9 days Average days off between trips: 4.8 Average tanks of compressed air used per day now: 14.5; 5 years ago: 9.0; 10 years ago: 5.3 Average depth now: 112.6 feet; 5 years ago: 60.1 feet; 10 years ago: 32.8 feet Payment per lb of lobster tails: industrial boats C$30 Cayuquero (canoer) typically receives : C$600 per 100 lbs Deductions: Almost no industrial divers pay anything for air, tank hire or for the cook Accidents: 75 say they have had an accident (18%). 12 say they have had 2 accidents, 4 say 3 accidents, 1 claims to have had 5, one 10 (!), 57 (14%) have all had 1 The depths they say they had the accident at, range from 45 to 900 feet so unreliable. A lot fall around the 90-130 foot mark The number of tanks they say they had used at the time of the accident ranges from 1 to 20 with average of 8.9 Symptoms: 61 (15%) say they have lost consciousness, 59 (14%) have suffered bleeding from the nose or mouth, 10 (2%) foaming blood at the mouth, 222 (53%) muscular pain, 27 (6%) skin eruptions, 112 (27%)dizziness, 164 (39%) headaches and 72 (17%) general pain. 169 (41%) have complaints abut the assistance they received when they suffered an accident and 361 (87% ) have complaints about the equipment. Cash they take home per trip averages C$ 1623 Illegal lobster: 268 admit to catching undersized animals and 288, berried females.  
F Notes of important information gathered and not included in main text F.1 Information from interviews with artesanal trap fishermen in Nicaragua Operational area The local agreement is that the artesanal trappers work in the NE part of the Cayos Miskitos Reserve with their base on Miskito Cay. Gear Design The traps used in the Moskitia are made of wooden slats on a wooden frame and weighted with concrete. There is a single entrance in the top surface with a crude no-return device made also of wooden slats. Traps are typically 28 inches long by 18 inches wide and 14 inches high. If a wood like Santa Maria is used, traps will last 2-2½ years. If a wood like preserved pine is used, only a year or so. (Interestingly, in the south of the country traps are made of a local palm called papta which offers some price advantage and would be an alternative to introduce to the north, as its extraction is reported to be more sustainable than that of upland forest timber). Trap costs In Nicaragua there is some commercial production of traps, the industrial boats paying C$100 for a completed trap, but most of the artesanal fishermen make their own. The finance they have available for materials is one of the main restrictions on the number of traps they operate. Most of the artesanal trap fishermen interviewed during the study would have increased their number of traps if they had the money to buy materials. The total materials cost (wood, nails and cement) of each trap is about C$65. In addition four marker buoys are needed at a total cost of C$50 and also line. 250 fathoms of line are required for every 10 traps and this costs C$900. Operations - artesanal fishermen Two family based groups living in a typical hut on the north end of Miskito Cays and working as trappers were interviewed. Their homes were in Sandy Bay. Each group consisted of 4 persons, a Captain and 3 assistants. In addition there was a cook serving both groups. They work all year round trapping except for the three months of January-March when they work on their agricultural plots on the mainland. They come to the Cays for 30-45 day stretches, then return home for 1 week or more rest. Each group had a 24 foot long, 6 foot wide outboard launch to work from, one with a 40 hp and one with a 75 hp motor. One group was working with 200 traps and the other with 130. They both estimated they could handle 500 traps each if they had the money for materials. They make all the traps themselves. They place the traps in strings of 15, with 18 fathoms of line between each trap and a 25 fathoms marker line at each end. They bait the traps with salted cowskin and leave them set for 5 nights before hauling. They work in the area NE of the Cays, up to 20 miles from the Miskito Cay and in about 18 fathoms of water. They only set traps on the clear sand/mud bottoms, not in coral. Catches are typically best during the first quarter of the moon and poor at full moon, but this can change with depth . For 2-3 months, July through September , catches are fairly good and typical would be about 200 pounds of tails per haul (5-6 days). They can be as low as 100 pounds however. Then in October through December the water becomes fresher and the lobster move out to deeper water. In this period they can only expect 10-30 pounds per 5-6 day haul. They once hauled only 2 pounds. Some friends of theirs fished through the January-March period in 1999 and did well, catching quantities similar to the July-September season. But the year before the same group's catches in January-March were poor. They believe this may be because it rained more and salinities were lower in 1998 Another group, on a 5-6 day trip, pulling the traps once, said they would expect to catch 60-90 pounds of tails from 150-170 traps. At the end of the season catches may be in the 40, 30 or even 10 pound range per trip. In the Miskito Cays there are trappers living in three groups of huts. Their group is called number 1 and working from it are 7 ponkins (small inboard displacement boats) 23 pangas (small outboard launches) and 5 sailboats. In all three groups there are probably about 300 people working. The processing companies leave an insulated box with ice at their hut and come every 2-3 days to pick up the product. They pay C$100 per pound for the 5 ounce plus lobster tails and give the ice free. For 4-5 ounce tails they pay only C$40 per pound. They do not buy lobster under 4 ounces. The trappers eat those themselves. Sometimes if they think they will grow to marketable size in one month, they leave them in the trap to grow. Their main complaints are: firstly, that the industrial dive boats come in to the reserve to fish, within 20 miles of the Cays. If they set traps in that area, the divers will steal their catch. Secondly that it is very hard for them to obtain materials like wood and nails and also food. The processing companies promise to bring supplies, but never do. Thirdly the problem of foreign trap boats from Honduras. They come in at night and leave long strings of traps without marker buoys (to avoid pillage by the divers and detection by the locals) and then pick them up a few nights later with a grapple using GPS to locate the right position. Sometimes such traps are lost and can continue ghost fishing a long time. They also claim that when the traps are old these illegal fishermen collect their rope and dump the traps, causing environmental damage. They believe most of the illegal fishermen are partners with some Honduran industrial fleet boat owners who have licenses to fish in Nicaragua. They claim that these illegal fishermen are at times protected in their activities by the Nicaraguan Navy. At a meeting of fishermen in Dacura, the following differing information was provided: In the November to April period, catches are smaller but the lobster are bigger. April through August there are more lobster, but smaller size. Catches in September and October depend on the weather: in bad weather, catches are still good, in good weather, they fall off in tbis period. Fishermen from Dacura trap all year round and just fit in their work on their agricultural plots during their off time in January through March. They sell their lobster to a collector for C$90 for 5 ounce and above tails in good condition, C$40 for the same size with some shell damage and C$30 for tails of 4-5 ounces. F.2 Information from interviews with artesanal free divers The local agreement is that divers without SCUBA gear operate around Deadman's Bar (Deadman Spat, Muerto Cay). Their limit with the trappers is London Reef and with the SCUBA divers is about half way to Morris Cay The divers currently live in eight huts built at the extremity of the Bar. All are from various communities in Sandy Bay. Between them they have 25-28 sailboats with usually 4 divers , 4 canoers (cayuqueros) and a cook in each group. Current (2 Aug 99) inhabitants of each hut were as follows:
There is an ninth hut in the area also, currently occupied by 4 men fishing for turtles from a sailboat. In the 7 days to date (2 Aug 99) Antonio James in Hut No.5 working with 4 divers from his sailboat had caught 100 pounds of lobster tails. 3-6 pounds per diver day is probably about average. A good day for them would be 10 pounds, but that is rare these days. They talk of a time when there were so many lobster out in the Miskito Cay area that you had to be careful where you walked in the shallows or you would stand on them. Those days are gone. The divers in this area sell to collectors from the processing plants. Current price was C$80 per pond for 5 ounce plus tails. They sell to the collectors as they need to buy food from them etc. Other buyers come through occasionally and pay C$100 per pound. In the port they believe the trappers who take their own product to their plant receive C$120. The divers leave each day at about 7am and return at 2-3 pm. One group told us that fishing is good in the period April through December and bad in February and March. In any case they work in their plantations at that time. F.3 Information from interviews about artesanal SCUBA divers Divers are well able to tell the size of a lobster before they gaff it. Sometimes a group of divers will contract a boat and motor from an owner, typically paying him around US$1 per pound of tails landed. On other occasions the boat owner will contract the divers, supply equipment and air and pay them C$30-40 per pound caught, like on the industrial boats. In some cases the divers are charged US$10 at the end of each 10 day trip for the use of a regulator, US$5 for fins and US$20 for the use of tanks It is difficult to find equipment to buy as there is no shop. Generally only those people with good contacts with the industrial fleet can procure equipment. An aluminium tank costs C$550, fins C$350, Mask C$80 and a regulator C$600. Artesanal divers typically only use about 7 tanks per day, a maximum of 9 tanks. This is much less than many in the industrial fleet. Artesanal divers reportedly also rarely dive to more than 14 fathoms. The industrial divers go regularly to 18-22 fathoms. Catches can be quite variable for the divers. 7-10 pounds per day is probably about average: at the collection station at Morris Cays on 8 July 1999 one diver brought in 23 pounds of tails that day, but had only delivered 9 pounds the day before and ½ pound the day before that. F.4 Information from interviews about the industrial sector The Honduran trapping boats are larger than those of Nicaragua, 110-120 feet in length, minimum 90 feet and reportedly operate up to 7,000 traps. This number of traps is widely quoted in Nicaragua but disputed by Honduras and indeed a calculation of the number of traps that could be handled per day makes it appear unreasonably high. 3-4,000 might be nearer the mark, though this in any case compares with a legal limit of 1,600. The Nicaraguan boats are smaller: 55-60 feet and can only manage 800-1000 traps as they don't have the deck space. At the end of the war they were assisted to invest and rushed in and bought what they now realise is the wrong kind of boat. They admit it was their choice. Now a new boat would cost US$250-500,000 and there is no finance available. Also they note that immediately after the war the Honduran boats that obtained licences and came in to fish had spectacular catches in the first year. 12,000 pounds of tails in an eight day trip was quite common. This enabled them to pay off any outstanding loans on their boats while the Nicaraguan boats, starting later and catching less, were never able to do this before catch rates fell. As a result the Nicaraguan boats remain uncompetitive and in debt. The Honduran trap boats making 40-45 day trips need to be catching 8-10,000 pounds or the operation is unprofitable. A dive boat with 20 divers needs at least 2,000 pounds of tails in an 11-12 day trip to break even. Most of the local boats are doing around 3-4,000 pounds per trip. Compensation to the families of divers who die while working on the industrial boats varies pending on the owner. Some owners have paid C$50-60,000 plus funeral costs, others nothing. F.5 Information from interviews in Honduras The processing plants reportedly don't buy undersized lobsters but there is a ready local market for them, including in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro, not much in the Islands. Typically on the industrial diving boats the divers receive their food and loan of equipment free and then are paid Lp35 (recently raised to Lp40 after a protest this year) per pound of tails landed. From this each diver has to pay his own canoer (cayuquero).- typically the canoers are paid about Lp7 per pound. Captains make an effort to stop the capture of undersized animals and the use of drugs but the crew are troublesome and can just go on strike, forcing a return to port. Drugs are still a problem in the industry, especially marijuana. Most divers are reported to smoke marijuana at least in the evenings on board ship, and maybe during the day also. There are around 5,000 divers working in the Honduran industry, 2,000 of them from Gracias a Dios and about 500 from Puerto Lempira itself. . The fisheries authority report that about half carry the legally required carnet and they have issued 500 carnets this year alone from the Puerto Lempira office. There are no qualifications needed to obtain a carnet. Over the last ten years there have probably been around 127 deaths among the industrial divers of Honduras and many hundreds paralysed. Some dive boats are changing to trapping. One paralaysed diver with 7 children received only Lp 15000 in compensation. CODEH the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras claims that abuse of the compensation system by dive boat owners is common. If the compensation owing to the diver is for instance calculated at Lp 50,000 they will have him taken out for a night's drinking and womanising and get him to sign a finiquito (a waiver of any further debt owing from the company) for a lesser amount . In several cases advantage has been taken of the divers limited literacy in having him sign for a sum such as Lp 5,000 when the true amount was Lp50,000. There are often problems with the sacabuzos (the labor contractors who hire divers for the boats). Unlike in Nicaragua where the sacabuzo typically sails on the vessel, the Honduran sacabuzos (many of them women) work from land and often crew several boats. Typically sacabuzos receive Lp100 per diver trip so with a few boats they can make a good living. There have been many problems of them not passing on the full payment to the divers. The other side of the coin is that there are divers who take advances to go on board several vessels and then do not turn up to board any of them. (Advances in Honduras are paid days before sailing and often used for pre-voyage drinking. In Nicaragua, the advance is paid only at the moment of boarding, or in some cases it is paid to a wife after sailing). Advances used to be in the region of Lp100 but now divers demand around Lp1,000. A dive boat owner who had just returned from his first trip after the closed season had returned with only 3,200 pounds of lobster tails. Last year he had achieved 5,600 pounds in a similar trip. Some boats were coming in with only 1,800 or 2,000 pounds - they must be losing money at that level and the general feeling in the industry is one of pessimism for the future. His divers reported many lobster heads on the seabed and he believes conch divers and Nicaraguan boats had been active during the Honduran closed season. He reports no Navy Patrols were believed to have been made at all during the closed season. He knows of a boat that came in to the processing plant in the Bay Islands during the closed season with 4,000 pounds of lobster, claimed to have been caught outside Honduran waters. These are boats with ownership linked to the President that can work pretty much as they wish. On Half-moon Cay, two years ago this intrviewee's divers caught 1,046 pounds in a single day, last year the best day was 300 pounds and this year 200 pounds. The resource is definitely in trouble..Last year the processing plants were paying Lp171 per pound but this year only Lp140-145 per pound 90% of his divers smoke marijuana in the evenings but he doesn't allow alcohol. August through November are the average months for catches, December through March is poorer and January the worst. The seas are heavier and there is more wind in December through February also which makes work harder. Coke and crack are more or less unknown in the Honduran dive industry. G Terms of Reference DRAFT. The Social, Environmental and Economic Impact of Lobster Fishing in the Gulf of Miskitia. between Nicaragua and Honduras. Terms of Reference. I . Introduction. In 1997 a study was conducted on the fisheries of Central America by an FAO-CP team with assistance from RUTA (Regional Technical Assistance Unit in Costa Rica). The study was managed by the World Bank. The preliminary conclusions of the report were subsequently discussed at a workshop held in Costa Rica in July 6-7, 1998 with representatives of the six participating countries, Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. The workshop identified the need for further investigations, one of which focused on the lobster fishery in the Gulf of Miskitia between Nicaragua and Honduras. Lobster fishing is one of the most important economic activities on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua and Honduras. Lobster fishing is expanding and so are the methods by which lobsters are caught. Formerly lobster fishing was mainly done with traps in fairly shallow water. Nowadays however, the introduction of scuba diving gear and hookah equipment have opened up additional, generally deeper, lobster fishing grounds. The expansion of the lobster fishing in terms of methods and areas has not remained without consequences. Stocks are becoming over fished. In the absence of knowledge of the sustainable harvest levels or the biology and recruitment of the species it is hard to determine quota however. Moreover, once quota would be set, enforcement capacity would be limited. The fishing communities themselves are also affected. Training in the proper use of modem equipment is deficient, resulting in frequent diving related accidents while many fishers are exploited by the industry. Besides, lobster fishing with diving equipment is only available to a limited part of the fishing community causing distortions in the traditional social structure. . As part of its Non-Lending Services to Central America, the World Bank would like to assist Nicaragua and Honduras in making the lobster fishery sustainable and reducing its negative social and health impact. To this aim, a study is required of the social, environmental and economic impact of the lobster fishery. 2. Scope of the study.
Lobster fishery and recommend the opportunities and next steps that should be taken to improve this fishery not only from a purely fisheries management point of view, but also from an economic, sociological and health point of view. 3. The study should entail the following subjects: i. An analysis of the impact of the various fishing methods upon the lobster population. ii. An estimate of the sustainable yield iii. The sociological and medical impact of the introduction of Hookah and Scuba equipment in the lobster fishery. iv. Ways to improve the revenues gained by fishermen through improvements in marketing and transport. V. A system of exclusion of outsiders. vi. Ways to improve the stock of lobsters vii. Training workshops. 3. Concerning the above, the consultant should: i. Impact of fishing methods. - Describe the various methods of lobster fishing employed in the Gulf of Miskitia. - Analyse their relative importance and efficiency. - Provide a map of the study area depicting the lobster fishing areas and where which method is employed. - provide an analysis of the sustainability of each method in terms of its impact upon the lobster population. - Advise on the possible desirability of limiting or prohibiting certain destructive methods. - Describe the impact of the various fishing methods upon other flora and fauna under water. ii Sustainable yield. - Make an estimate of the sustainable yield of the lobster population in the Gulf of Miskitia. This will be very difficult, also because recruitment may very well come at least partly from outside the area and be subject to extraneous influences. As there will not be enough time to collect field data, the consultant will be required to make this assessment on the basis of existing fisheries statistics and data on the biology of the lobsters in the Gulf Moreover, the consultant should describe their life history and identify gaps in knowledge that might become targets for additional research. iii. The sociological and medical impact of the introduction of Hookah and Scuba on the lobster fishery. - describe what part of the traditional fishing population and/or newcomers have access to these new methods and how this has changed the traditional fishing communities. - Recommend possible measures that could be taken to minimise negative social impacts. - Describe the health impact of the use of diving equipment on the fishermen from decompression sickness or other accidents. - Recommend appropriate measures that can be taken to avoid these problems. iv. Ways to improve revenues to fishermen by improving transport and storage. - Investigate the transportation system for transporting lobsters and determine losses due to inadequate transportation provisions. - Investigate the storage system and determine losses due to inadequate storage. - Recommend measures that could improve transportation and storage systems - Suggest, if appropriate, alternative pricing mechanisms. - Recommend possible changes in organisational structure of the lobster fishery. v. Exclusion of outsiders. - Determine whether outsiders take away jobs and revenues from local people and whether it would be desirable to exclude outsiders from (parts of) the lobster fishery. - Suggest measures that could be taken in case it is found desirable to exclude outsiders. vi. Improvement of stocks. - Suggest measures that could be taken to increase the stocks of lobsters through fisheries management such as closed seasons, release of berried females, selective gear etc. - Suggest measures that could be taken or trials that could be carried out to improve lobster habitat such as through provision of shelter boxes. vii. The consultant should organise a training workshop on the proper use of hookah and scuba equipment for fishermen who use this equipment, and advise on follow- up courses. viii. Suggest possible investments that can be made to improve the lives of the fishermen and management and revenue generation of the lobster fishery.
The study is expected to take approximately six months 5. Qualification of the consultant and composition of the study team. The consultant should have broad international experience in fisheries management and the management of lobster stocks. The consultant should also have a diving certificate. He/she should be conversant in Spanish. The consultant should liaise with (a) local fisheries institute(s) and form a local counterpart team that helps assemble data and carry out field surveys. There are a number of NGO's active in the area that also could become involved, in particular in the social and health aspects of the study. 6. Coordination and Supervision. The consultant will report directly to Mr. Jan C. Post of the World bank. Within the region however, the consultant must coordinate closely with national authorities. In the case of Nicaragua with Mr. of ADPESCA and in Honduras with Mr of SERNA. All travel to the region must be cleared in advance with the World Bank and the relevant national authorities. 7. Products. Work Plan: After 2 weeks. Progress reports : Monthly. Draft Report: After 6 months Final Report (incorporating comments of national authorities and World Bank) After 7 months. H List of contacts/interviews NICARAGUA Managua: Reynaldy Barnutty Fisheries Researcher, CIRH, ADPESCATel: 265 2820 Fausto Cepeda Worldwide Fund for Nature, Tel/fax: 278 5230 Email< cepewwf@ibw.com.ni> Dr Rigel Cisneros Director, Proyecto DIPARAAN, ADPESCA Tel: 265 1268 Email:
Luis Chavez FUNDECSI, Tel: 248 – 06 78 Aldo Fonseca Director, PROTIERRA, MARENA Tel: 263 2835, Fax: 233 1313 email: cba@ibw.com.ni,cgabet@ibw.com.ni, MARENA Tel: 233 1111-13, 263 1271-4 Fax: 263 1274 Dr Miguel Marenco Director, ADPESCA Tel: 265 1288/2820 Luis Enrique Martínez Ministerio del Trabajo, Higiene y Seguridad, Tel: 222 – 66 77 / 2115 / 6002 (dir) 222 4185 Dr Sergio Martinez Director, CIRH, ADPESCA, Tel: 265 3090 email: cirh@tmx.com.ni Ministerio de Acción Social Tel: 277 – 59 44 / 59 42 Maritza Obando Ministerio de Salud (Puerta 797) Salud Ambiental, Tel: 289 – 4514 Fax: 289 7671 Dr Noel Sacasa Minister of Development, Industry and Commerce, Tel: 278 8712/3 Fax: 267 0176 Armando Segura CAPENIC, Tel.: 278 – 70 91 / fax: 278 – 70 54 John Samuel Sims SOS Sub Ocean Safety, Tel: 088 49190 Fax: 228 4004 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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