- Along Colombia’s Pacific coast, women belonging to the Afro-Colombian community who harvest piangüa mollusks have united in efforts to conserve these small, black-shelled clams.
- For generations, piangüa collecting has been their livelihood, a nutrient-rich food source and important symbol of cultural heritage.
- But piangüa populations have diminished in recent years, due to commercialization and overharvesting as well as exports to Ecuador.
- The women piangüeras monitor the local mangroves, crucial to piangüa conservation, and when they observe signs of human disturbance or logging, they encourage people to leave the area alone during “rest periods” so the mangroves can recover.
In the green-fringed inlet of Bahía Málaga, tucked along Colombia’s Pacific coast in the department of Valle del Cauca, Marlin Valencia’s melodic voice drifts among the tangled roots of the mangrove trees. As she sings, she crouches down and swirls her glove-covered hand in the soft mud, searching for piangüa (Anadara tuberculosa), a small black-shelled clam that her ancestors have harvested for centuries.
“We have to search much harder to find piangüa than we did before,” she says, briefly pausing mid-song and pulling her empty, mud-covered hand from the thick, brown, salty sludge. “Now other people come here, too, and take so many of them,” Valencia adds woefully.
Piangüa, which is found roughly between the Pacific coasts of Mexico and Peru, provides an income for more than 11,000 women in Colombia’s Pacific region. The Afro-Colombian communities scattered around Bahía Málaga, which is home to nearly 1,400 plant and animal species, call it their “black gold.” For generations, piangüa has been their livelihood, a nutrient-rich food source and an important symbol of cultural heritage.
But in recent years, the piangüeras, primarily women who harvest piangüa, have witnessed its population dwindle. Commercialization and overharvesting, particularly driven by exports to Ecuador, where about 80% of Colombian piangüa ends up, started to put a significant strain on piangüa numbers, as well as on the local ancestral traditions tied to it.
Realizing they could do little to mitigate these threats individually, the piangüeras decided to unite, drawing on their ancestral knowledge of sustainably harvesting the mollusk. Created in 2019, Raíces Piangüeras: Community Association of Women Piangüeras of Bahía Málaga, is made up of 28 women from four communities: La Plata, La Sierpe, Miramar and Mangaña.
“Being an organized group has allowed us to develop initiatives dedicated to the conservation of the piangüa and the mangroves and make others want to maintain this cultural heritage that is so beautiful and important,” says Matilde Mosquera, Raíces Piangüeras legal representative.
Guardians of the mangroves
As the sun climbs through the morning sky, the piangüeras head out from their stilted houses, wearing rubber boots, thick waterproof gloves and long-sleeved shirts to protect them from mosquitoes and the harsh heat. The journey can take up to an hour rowing in small wooden boats to the various mangroves of Bahía Málaga.
In order to conserve piangüa, mangrove conservation is crucial, the women say. They observe the mangrove plots for subtle changes, for evidence of human disturbance and logging and for reductions in piangüa abundance and size, which could signal overharvesting or a shift in the ecosystem.
If such changes occur, solutions include “rest” periods and putting up signs at the entrance of mangrove nurseries requesting that people do not disturb the area. “We put the mangroves on hold for a month or so. We’ll keep an eye on how the mangroves and piangüa are recovering, and if there is not much yield, we leave it for two months,” says Aura Nelly Díaz, a 49-year-old piangüera who has been collecting the clams since she was little.
“The mangroves are like homes. In a house, we dedicate ourselves to cleaning, fixing and arranging things. We give the mangroves this same patience and dedication,” Díaz tells Mongabay.
The Valle del Cauca department has 31,942 hectares (78,930 acres) of mangroves distributed throughout its Pacific zone, which are important for carbon capture and for shielding the Pacific coast from storms and erosion. They also promote the reproduction of marine species, protecting and diversifying marine life, including piangüa, according to the Regional Autonomous Corporation of Valle del Cauca (CVC), the main environmental authority in the region, which also contributes funding for Raíces Piangüeras.
“We contribute to the protection of the mangrove, and as a strategy, we strengthen the ability of communities, given their cultural links, to harvest piangüa while at the same time sustaining the mangrove,” says Helem Alexander Ruiz, territorial director for the Pacific West at the CVC, whose jurisdiction consists of a large rural zone that includes Bahía Málaga.
The women also promote working with the sea’s tidal cycles to dictate which days are more favorable for piangüa harvesting. “The puja is when the tide rises a lot but also falls more, which allows the women to have a longer time to carry out the activity of extracting the piangüa,” Mosquera says. She adds that in the quiebra, the tidal fluctuations are less pronounced and there are fewer hours to be able to collect the mollusks. The group encourages the community and non-ancestral piangüeras to observe the days of quiebra and limit harvesting.
“This is to achieve the recovery of the piangüa and to give the mangroves a little rest through the natural conditions that the sea offers us,” Mosquera explains.
Gathering piangüa and information
Afro-Colombians have inhabited small communities in Bahía Málaga, and other coastal communities in the Pacific, for around 400 years, after European colonists brought enslaved Africans to Colombia. Communities here have lived and worked with nature, traditionally trading fish and piangüa with Indigenous communities deeper in the jungle for tropical fruits and staples like yucca and plantain, or using piangüa in local dishes such as stews, ceviche and tamales.
But around 30 years ago, Ecuador, where piangüa stock was diminishing, increased its demand and the mollusk became commercialized. The popularity of harvesting piangüa boomed, and piangüa populations started to deplete.
In Bahía Málaga piangüa populations dropped by almost 60% between 1980 to 2004. Locals say they have noticed further declines in the abundance of piangüa since the early 2000s. Research has highlighted that demand, which has put the mollusk at risk “to the point of it being endangered” and found that there has been a loss of genetic diversity and inbreeding among the species. This can reduce disease resistance, temperature tolerance and its ability to find food.
Control and surveillance checks play a crucial role in conserving the mollusks. All piangüeras are responsible for checking the size of the piangüa they collect with a piangüimetro, a special ruler, making sure that none are shorter than 5 centimeters (2 inches), the minimum size for collecting piangüa in Colombia that respects the piangüa’s breeding cycle. But Ecuador only requires a minimum size of 4.5 cm (1.8 in), which has proved a challenge to conservation efforts.
Raices Piangüera’s monitoring team, made up of 12 salaried women, is responsible for checking the piangüa catches in the territory. Observation activities integrated into the mangrove monitoring scheme have also proven invaluable for conservation groups and scientists analyzing how conditions vary between different mangrove plots, piangüa sizes and their abundance and have enabled them to support the piangüeras with their conservation strategies.
“The women have a traditional perspective and historical memory of what they used to capture,” explains Julian Caicedo, consultant for the oceans program at Conservation International, which provides financial and technical support to the monitoring projects.
“The whole monitoring exercise is developed by them. They are trained, they are supported and they are in charge of collecting the information. Without them, it would not be possible to define the measures or agreements established for the territory, such as the rotation of areas and respecting the minimum size requirements,” Caicedo says. Conservation International, Raíces Piangüeras, CVC and other entities have drawn up conservation agreements together stipulating conservation commitments, such as the minimum size of piangüa, and working toward the elimination of the extraction and use of mangrove wood.
New income sources from piangüa
Piangüa has long been an important source of income for communities and economic independence for women. “[It] has allowed my mother and my grandmother to support their family,” Mosquera says. “Even when I had to leave the territory to study, my mother sent me kilos of piangüa so I could pay for my studies at university.” Mosquera studied in the port city of Buenaventura, where piangüa fetches a higher price than in small local communities.
Diversifying the economic opportunities of piangüeras without turning away from piangüa is now a key conservation strategy. One approach involves boosting recognition of their cultural heritage at the national level by showcasing their unique gastronomy and linking the piangüeras with environmentally responsible commercial partners, such as restaurants. This is done under EcoGourmet, a program supported by Conservation International, which emphasizes environmentally responsible supply chains. Raíces Piangüeras also created the “Piangüa Route,” where visitors can learn about the mollusk and collect a few themselves before trying some home-cooked piangüa dishes.
“The best thing is that we have been able to achieve tourism, but also that we have been able to organize it,” Valencia says, explaining that the women take turns leading the tours, and that tourists also benefit the wider community through purchases in shops and stays in guesthouses.
While conserving the mangroves, piangüa and her cultural heritage isn’t easy, when Valencia is immersed in the mud and the roots and surrounded by nature, she feels proud and knows it’s all worthwhile.
“We sing throughout the mangroves, and when we find an area with many piangüa, it’s exciting just to know they’re there,” she says. “Then when we go to bed, we dream about piangüa.”
Banner image: Monitors within the association like Marlin Valencia are in charge of controlling rest areas for the mangroves and piangua. Image courtesy of Raices Piangueras.
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