Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Fisherfolk Protect Marine Resources

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

TEGUCIGALPA, Dec 29 2008 (IPS) - Fishing communities from the southern Honduran Gulf of Fonseca, on the Pacific coast, began construction in December of the first center for production and management of marine resources, in waters that Honduras shares with Nicaragua and El Salvador. The purpose of the center is to control fishing activities, encourage participation of fishing families in direct sale of their product, identify endangered marine species in order to protect them, and establish resource management plans.

The center is located on Isla del Tigre, in the department of Valle, and financed by international assistance from Spain, Agriculture Minister Héctor Hernández told Tierramérica.

In 2009, additional units will be set up in the department of Choluteca, also on the Pacific. Southern Honduras is among the poorest and most environmentally degraded regions of the country, as a result of deforestation, overfishing and the destruction of coastal mangrove forests.