Ecuador and Peru launched the Coastal Fisheries Initiative – Latin America (CFI) in Manta, which includes integrated actions for the management and use of coastal fisheries in an inclusive manner, in artisanal and small-scale fisheries scale.
The initiative was structured by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the non-governmental organization Conservation International (CI).
The two organizations signed the respective agreements for the technical and financial implementation of the project, which is valid for 48 months and aims to demonstrate holistic, ecosystem-based management to improve the governance of coastal fisheries in the Southeast Pacific.
In order to consolidate the project in both countries, it will be necessary to implement the following strategies: creation of practice communities with fishers, stakeholders and authorities of both countries, implementation of specific practical tests for seven fisheries and two sites, registration and exchange of experience and lessons learned, between both countries and between IPC participants and the implementation of lessons to improve the existing schemes of fisheries governance or to implement new ones.
In Ecuador, the fisheries that will improve the enabling conditions and incorporate ecosystem-based management and collaborative fishing will be five: dolphinfish, black ark, red crab, titi shrimp and the pole and line tuna fishery, while in Peru there will be two: crab mangrove and black shell.
Undersecretary of Fisheries Resources Jorge Costain stressed that this agreement is the result of the joint effort of the environmental and fisheries authorities in both countries.
For his part, Vice President of International Cooperation Luis Suarez expressed the relevance of the project by working with one of the most traditional fisheries in Ecuador.
“We are really motivated by learning about important fisheries that are in both countries. Tuna pole fishing is an emblematic fishery of Ecuador, perhaps to some extent a fishery in danger of extinction can be a very a interesting process so that pole fishing for tuna can be considered a heritage fishery and we can strengthen its recovery that is so particular and sustainable from its origin”.
The Ecuadorian Government, given the importance of its fisheries, expressed its interest so that the Conservation International and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) organizations are responsible parties for the Ecuadorian elements of the project, implementing it in close coordination with the Ministries of Aquaculture and Fisheries (MAP), Environment (MAE) and UNDP as the Implementing Agency of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), as the main donour.
The Coastal Fisheries Initiative is an association of six organizations that has been developed and funded within the framework of the GEF to safeguard the world’s oceans and the marine environment.
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