- In 2019, the Celestún fishing community in Yucatán, Mexico, established a 324-square-kilometer (125-square-mile) Fishing Refuge Zone (FRZ), the largest in the Gulf of Mexico.
- The area was created in response to the overfishing of sea cucumbers, a species that had been in rapid decline, which caused social strife in the community.
- Local fishers have been trained to monitor the refuge to help the species recover and protect other species of commercial interest, like octopus and lobster. The participation of women has been an important part of the process, as they help lead community monitoring efforts.
A decade ago, the overfishing of sea cucumber (Isostichopus badionotus) was the center of controversy in Celestún, a small community in the state of Yucatán, Mexico. Extraction of the coveted species allowed local fishers to grow but also attracted ambitious businessmen and illegal fishing.
Yanely Jasaai May, a biologist from the community, said violence broke out in many coastal communities around that time. So many people died, and boats burned, that Celestún was designated as a “conflict community.” Meanwhile, the sea cucumber, in only a few years, practically disappeared from its natural habitat.
“I think the situation leaves its mark on you,” May said. “We were classified as a community that was really using up its resources.”
But soon, Celestún would find a solution in the form of a fishing refuge zone (FRZ), she said.
In 2019, the community established the 324-square-kilometer (125-square-mile) refuge zone, the largest in the Gulf of Mexico. The goal was to help recover the sea cucumber — permanently banned from capture — and other species that sustain the local fishing industry, including the red grouper (Epinephelus morio), Mexican four-eyed octopus (Octopus maya) and the Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus).
But the effort wasn’t easy. It required dialogue, organization and the support of local fishing cooperatives, as well as collaboration with the Secretariat of Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture of Yucatán (SEPASY) and the Mexican Institute for Research in Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture (IMIPAS). Local participation has been the key not just to conserving and recovering the species but also to repairing the social fabric of the community.
“We want the community not just to be viewed differently,” May said, “but for it to be used as an example of how social and ecological problems can change in a positive way when people get involved and we all participate for the common good.”
Monitoring in the community
Thirteen kilometers (8 miles) from the port of Celestún, on the eastern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, mollusks, crustaceans and fish thrive among algae, corals, grasslands and sandy sea floors. José Ricardo Novelo Chac, president of the Federation of Fishing, Aquaculture and Tourist Services Cooperatives of Celestún, said collective knowledge about the site motivated fishers to choose it as a refuge.
“It’s a rich area with a seabed full of nutrients and it’s a place where, with just a little bit of care, it can repopulate on its own,” he said. “The only thing we have to do is care for it, and that’s what we’re doing.”
The creation of the fishing refuge zone, according to the National Commission for Aquaculture and Fisheries (CONAPESCA), is an important tool for conservation and the sustainable use of species in Celestún. It’s allowed for the gradual increase in animal populations, which then spill over into legal fishing areas.
“The refuge zones are like a ‘savings fund’ and their primary characteristic is that they’re based on a community approach,” said Mariana Suasnávar, natural resources manager and climate change specialist for Community and Biodiversity (COBI), a local organization helping monitor the fishing refuge.
The community, with the help of officials, decided to delimit an area where they temporarily regulate and restrict fishing activity so resources can regenerate and the ecosystems can survive. “The effect is that they’ll spread,” Suasnávar said. “The fish won’t stay in the designated area but rather move to other places where they can be fished. The community considers this a long-term way of conserving its resources.”
The goal is to create resilience among marine species as well as the people who depend on fishing, Suasnávar said. With that in mind, Celestún created the Yucatán Coast Submarine Monitoring Community Group, a collaborative initiative by SEPASY, IMIPAS and COBI to train some of the fishers and coastal communities in scuba diving, first aid, underwater monitoring and the identification of species.
The group is made up of 12 men and 14 women from 11 Yucatán communities, which carry out citizen science activities through underwater monitoring and data collection, including substrate types, invertebrate species and fish species. Three women from Celestún are certified for scuba dive monitoring while the others help with gathering data.
“They’re trained in scuba diving in the open sea and, for monitoring work, they arrive at 7 in the morning to do activities in the area,” May said. “The monitors know how to identify species while taking all of the necessary precautions.”
Participation by women has increased, according to May, as they work to break the stigma that the ocean is a place for men only. “It’s often thought that women are only in the administrative area, when we can do the same things that men can. That’s why we have to recognize and incentivize others, because these activities really are empowering and help us feel represented.”
The most recent monitoring took place in July. COBI carried out a campaign in the Celestún FRZ in collaboration with IMIPAS, the Community Underwater Monitoring Group of the Yucatán Coast, the Celestún-FRZ Management Committee — made up of some 60 fishing families — and the Community Center for Underwater Research and Monitoring (Cecims) of the Mexican Caribbean.
The four days of work involved 60 50-meter (165-foot) transects and 30 divers in 15 sites of the Celestún FRZ. With a methodology designed by IMIPAS and COBI, 38 species of fish were recorded and more than 4,500 organisms were surveyed.
Although the final data are being processed and the results won’t be available until December, researchers confirmed they also recorded 1,723 invertebrates across 13 species and four genera. Among the fish species were the Haemulon plumierii and H. aurolineatum — both from the chac-chi family — as well as the Ocyurus chrysurus from the snapper family, which together represent more than 65% of everything the researchers recorded.
With this information, they can better understand marine biodiversity, ecosystem health and states of species populations with commercial value, Suasnávar said. It also allows for the early detection of changes in the marine environment, such as the deterioration of habitats, the appearance of invasive species and impacts from climate change.
“Fishermen say they’ve observed positive results in the recovery of some species, including the maya octopus,” May said.
Fighting illegal fishing
Celestún fishers use community surveillance and the maritime culture of the FRZ as tools to fight illegal fishing. They organized a committee with groups that take daily shifts visiting the FRZ and installed floating cages — 12 m (39 ft) in diameter, made of PVC pipe — for breeding and growing yellowtail snapper (O. chrysurus) and spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus).
“Since we were already taking care of the refuge, we had to have something that would help us sustain it,” Novelo said. “We came up with the idea of making some floating cages — we set up quotas for each cooperative and small permit holders to buy petrol or fish food — and we look after them. It’s how we guarantee surveillance of the area 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.”
Although there continues to be illegal fishing in Celestún, people also respect the protected area because it benefits them too.
Novelo was 14 when he started his life on the ocean. In his first years as a fisherman, he remembered, “I would pull in a fish and the entire school would come up with it.” Although that abundance no longer exists, it’s possible that things will change with the creation of the refuge.
“Now what’s happening near the cages is you’ll throw a little food to them and the fish pile up,” Novelo said. “There are also dolphins around the cages, because there’s food, like sardines. There’s already been considerable repopulation not just inside [the cages] but throughout the refuge. Our goal is to repopulate the entire area.
Although sea cucumber populations are recovering slowly, Novelo said, species like octopus, the hog fish and the gray snapper are showing signs of repopulation.
Because of these efforts, Novelo said, other fishers are joining the project, when in the past they had serious doubts about it. It’s also led to increased participation by women, who now make up half of the refuge’s board of directors.
“Illegal fishing has been a cancer,” Novelo said, “but we’ve caught it in time and started to cure it. Celestún is such an unorganized port, but thanks to the refuge there are important efforts to change things. What’s missing is help from officials to put a stop to illegal activities.”
Celebrating the FRZ
In mid-August, for the third straight year, the community put on the Celestún Fishing Refuge Zone Festival, an event to promote social unity and the use of the protected area. Awareness workshops, sustainable cooking contests, community cinema, sports and cultural activities make up the three-day festival. The fishing refuge has created a community movement, May said.
“We’ve tried to involve children as well teenagers and women through various awareness talks,” May said. “In the refuge festival, we try to promote the area and fundraise. We have the participation of fishermen and local businesses that have taken an interest in this project and contribute what they can.”
What they’re hoping for now is that all this knowledge makes its way into the local schools.
“We’re looking for a way for the Yucatán state government to offer primary and secondary schools a small conservation class so that children and young people can grow up with that ‘chip’ instilled in them that we have to start planting in and caring for the ocean,” Novelo said. “It’s not like it was before, in our time, when we thought that the species would never disappear.”
The ideal scenario for Celestún, May said, is that there’s fish for the future. While octopus and lobster fisheries decline nationwide, the community hopes to see their efforts lead to the repopulation of marine species that they depend on. It’s also worth celebrating that more fishers are now joining the conservation effort, as they have found it to be a good alternative to illegal fishing.
“Celestún is a very special place,” May said. “We’re surrounded by water. We have the beach on one side and on the other, the coastal lagoon. There are a lot of different bird species, like the flamenco, that are emblematic for us. Previously, Celestún was seen as a troubled port where predation and illegal fishing were common. But with this initiative, we want people who visit us to be able to look at the ocean like we do.”
Banner Image: The Celestún Fishing Refuge Zone is a local initiative to conserve natural resources and care for the oceans as a source of food. Image © Oceana/Cuauhtémoc Moreno.
This story was reported by Mongabay’s Latam team and first published here on our Latam site on Aug. 12, 2024.
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