ENVIRONMENT

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Ron Mader's El Planeta Platica, The Earth Speaks

Coastal parks provide food and protection to migratory and local seabirds, as well as being the breeding grounds for many marine species.

By WENDY GRIFFIN

TELA -- Several North Coast parks and wildlife refuges include lagoons, coral reefs, and the open sea as far as three to five miles off shore. Part of the reason these areas are protected is because they are breeding grounds for shrimp, crabs, some varieties of fish, manatees, and dolphins. This also makes the areas very attractive to commercial fishermen who are looking at short-term gain rather than long-term sustainability.

Around Punta Sal and the Laguna de Micos, commercial fishing is prohibited for three miles from the low tide mark, says PROLANSATE's Executive Director Rafael Sambula. In spite of this, he says, commercial fishing boats pass by frequently.

"These boats come hauling this big net. After they pass by, you see little ... from Punta Sal to La Ensenada. Before the children fishing with a line on the beach would catch many fish the size of my hand. Now there are few fish in the Bay of Tela," said Herman Alvarez, a Garifuna native of San Juan.

The Garifunas do not fish with the same techniques as commercial fishermen. "My father said to me, it is better to fish farther out, so that we can conserve the fish that live close," continued Alvarez. "They should leave this little bit near the coast for the people who fish in canoes. These commercial fishermen catch the fish with eggs and everything, so the fish can not reproduce."

"FUSEP [Public Security Force] can see these boats as they leave the protected area, but they do nothing," he added.

Sambula, also a Garifuna, points out there are a number of agencies that could be involved in protecting the marine resources of this park. "The municipality should play a larger role," he said. "They have the authority to apply fines. The Honduran Navy should also play a role in patrolling and enforcing protected areas, but there is no base in Tela and the closest one is in Puerto Cortes."

He added, "PROLANSATE has proceeded judicially against some of the known violators. But when they seek damages in the courts (juzgados), here is the bottleneck. There is no sentencing against those who do damage to the parks."

Another agency that should be part of the process to protect marine resources is the Direccion General de Pesca (DIGEPESCA), the government's fishing bureau. "DIGEPESCA gives out fishing licenses," Sambula said. "For those who violate protected area laws, DIGEPESCA should take away their licenses, but they have not been willing to do this."

Similar problems with commercial fishermen in Trujillo near the Guaymoreto Lagoon have also been reported. "When you get up in the morning, at dawn you can see the beach littered with the parts of the bodies of little fish. They cannot stand the pressure of all the fish in the nets," said Garifuna Sebastian Marin, a native of Trujillo.

Several endangered species are affected by fishing in protected areas. One of the reasons for the decline of the manatee is the use of nets for fishing in rivers, canals, the open sea and at estuaries. There are now only 400-700 manatees in the Gulf of Honduras. Destruction of their habitat and spear fishing are other causes in the decline of manatee populations. Marine turtles have also been affected by commercial fishing.

The North Coast shrimp industry has been facing declining yields, due to fewer numbers of shrimp. This is in part because the shrimp are caught as soon as they leave the breeding grounds, such as the Micos Lagoon near Tela and the Guaymoreto Lagoon, without giving them a chance to get large enough to breed.

A similar problem is affecting lobsters that are caught by divers as small as 4 inches long and females with eggs are still openly caught and sold. Added to this is the fact that lobsters lay eggs during six months of the year and that an official moratorium on lobster fishing lasts only four months.

With fishing, like many other aspects of Honduran life, the small guys are punished while the rich commercial fishermen go untouched. Both in Trujillo and the Tela area, Garifuna fishermen have reported that personnel from environmental NGOs like FUCAGUA and PROLASATE have burnt their nets or their canoes for fishing where they have always fished, even though their canoes are too small to risk going past the three-mile limit and the Garifunas traditionally eat seafood or fish at least six days a week.

Yet recently as Garifuna ceremonial fishermen sat drying and salting fish near the Guaymoreto Lagoon for a dugu ceremony, a Ladino with his boat full of nets headed toward the lagoon during a moratorium on fishing. Commented the fishermen, "Oh, he's a sergeant. That is why he can fish and they do nothing to him." DIGEPESCA supports permitting fishing in the lagoon. On one occasion when FUCAGUA personnel went to the lagoon without advising DIGEPESCA personnel, they captured more nets than their boats could hold, reported FUCAGUA director Freddy Matute.

Rational policies that permit fishing people like the Garifunas, Miskitos and traditional Bay Islanders to practice artisanal fishing are needed as well as the prosecution and punishment of commercial violators. Honduras will soon be facing the prospect of massive unemployment in the Islands and the Mosquitia as renewable marine resources are wiped out. Malnutrition among fishing peoples could also result if effective policies and practices are not implemented soon.

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