Yesterday we went fishing cabrilla and we took out of the water fourteen. At the end I sold eight, I went to Samara to sell the rest and nothing. We earn about eight thousand colones each and with this situation, without money, there are no markets, all the restaurants are closed: this is not good at all.
When Sergio Jiron told me that a few days ago in a WhatsApp audio, the pandemic caused by the Covid-19 was already beginning to close down and close everything in the way: beaches, borders and restaurants.
Sergio, or Chejo as everybody knows him on Sámara beach, is 65 years old and earns a living by fishing with his lungs. Just three weeks ago I was with him on a day of fishing so he can tell me about the consequences of climate change in his daily work.None of us who set sail that Friday in late February knew what was coming. A coronavirus spreads around the world at high speed to further complicate the picture for Chejo and his peers in Costa Rica.
For years, Chejo and his crew face increasingly warmer and fishless waters. In coastal communities like this one, the fishing trade is combined with agriculture, livestock and more and more with tourism, but they continue to depend largely on what the sea provides.
So far, many discussions about fishing in the country focus on approving trawling or not and granting new permits for fishermen. While that happens, the ocean water warms up. Within 30 years, studies say, it will offer less than half the resources to this group of four men who drag their fishing gear. Look how awful this season has been for us, from last year to now, Chejo was saying a little bit ago.
Chejo believes that the warming of the waters causes the fish to move to colder areas, so they have to dive much deeper to find them. Dive, yes, because they fish with spearguns.
Imagine that we have been diving to 22 meters (72 feet) deep to see what we find. Before, there was fish at eight or 10 meters (25 to 30 feet), here along the shore, everywhere. Now there is nothing, he laments.
Marviva Foundation biologist Gustavo Arias agrees with Chejo. Although there are no national studies on the impact of climate change on fish migration, there are projections worldwide and some data for the Eastern Tropical Pacific, the area that extends from California to Ecuador and includes Costa Rica.
What the model that [the researchers] used predicted is that within a few years, 2050, something like that, the catches of some species of commercial interest (such as tuna) will decrease by up to 60% in the tropical areas and will increase from 35% to 40% towards the more temperate zones, emphasizes Gustavo.
Gustavo concludes that facing this panorama of large fish migrations, local communities in coastal areas should take advantage of the tourism, biological and ecological value they have.
In the context we are in, responsible tourism is one of the alternatives that needs a greater injection from the state, mainly support for how to carry out these activities, the biologist adds.
2018 Voz de Guanacaste