Why SeaWatch Helped Found and Support OC

The reason SeaWatch and others founded “OC” Observatorio Ciudadano in 2009 and has supported it since is that SeaWatch believes that the major problem with fisheries management in Mexico is the lack of a clear legal framework and virtually no vigilance or enforcement. As a result any attempts to protect fish stocks through MPA’s and Marine Reserves ends up providing the illegal fishermen (pistoleros and encerradores) with their own private and protected fishing grounds and forces the honest local fishermen to use these illegal and destructive methods just to compete. Axiom for sustainable fisheries is: Fisheries can only recover if there are clear regulations designed to stop predatory fishing practices, there is vigilance and the laws are enforced evenly and thus a respect for them is developed within the public and fishing communities. This is the first and most critical step to managing fisheries for sustainability. It must come first. It is the reasoning behind OC and proved itself in the first year of OC operations. 80% of the illegal fishermen were stopped saving between 500 and 700 tons of reef fish between the Loreto Marine Park and Isla Cerralvo Island. 2010 Annual Report for OC 2010 OC Annual Report Update: In the last two years the authorities have refused to act on denuncias (legal complaints) filed by OC the illegal pictilero’s have become more emboldened. 3-4 of the original 28 boata are back fishing illegally again. What must happen is that we get the public and legal peer fishermen get involved and demand that the officials do their job. That is very slow to happen and SeaWatch has been spending more time informing and involving the public.

June 20, 2015

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SeaWatch Dream Come True

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