The program PESQAR (PESQueria Artesanal Responsable – Responsible Artisanal Fishery) aims in defining and implementing new fishery mechanism with less destructive techniques, reduced bycatch, a sustainable use of marine resources and financial models strengthening the economic and social status of artisanal fishermen and their communities. The German “Lighthouse Foundation” is financing this program.
We are working with fishermen and their households of the villages Galera and San Francisco del Cabo, located in the southern part of the province of Esmeraldas. They are the most important fishing villages with respect to catch volume and boat capacity in the Marine Reserve “Galera – San Francisco” (see section Marine Protected Areas: Galera-San Francisco). Up to 85% of these households economically depend on fish.
Fishermen of the Marine Reserve “Galera-San Francisco” witness the negative shifts within the marine ecosystem caused by overharvesting ocean resources. As a consequence, they have to stay longer at sea to catch the same amount of fish and effective catch areas veer away continuously from the coast. Since poverty is very high in the whole province, higher expenses for gasoline directly affect the lives of these people. Fishermen from San Francisco del Cabo and Galera approached us in their seek for help against diminishing fishing resources and bycatch problems.
There are no binding regulations regarding sustainability for small-scale artisanal fisheries in Ecuador until today. Accordingly, there is no guidance for fishermen how to use marine resources in a sustainable manner and how to practice a sales system balancing social and economic aspects. A special system of guidelines and advices, compliance and verification is thus needed, taking the economic, as well as the cultural value of small-scale artisanal fisheries into account.
