Defenders of the Sea

Hours down a muddy, potholed 4×4 road, then another mile down the river by dugout canoe, there is a fishing village made up of 266 households, a fleet of hand-hewn boats, and fishing nets in various states of repair hanging from walls, roofs, and tree branches.

The lifeblood of this community is the sea, a short paddle down the river delta and into the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. Until recently, it has also been the source of their suffering.

“Fishing is the only livelihood we have. It is our heritage from our,ancestors,” said Dornin, community member and lifelong fisherman.

“Before, we were struggling a lot. If one fisherman worked half the day, his bucket was hardly filled. The prices were very low, the cost of living was very high, and we could hardly buy rice for the family with that money. The situation became worse and worse.”

The worsening situation was the result of a combination of overfishing, underregulating, and market manipulation by unethical middlemen. In desperation, communities along the river took to poaching illegal harvests of marine life and battling neighboring villages for fishing access. Though each community maintained internal regulations for fishing, they were often ignored or at odds with the regulations of other fishing communities.

These inconsistencies led to more conflicts and fewer resources.

“We had associations in each community, but when FIOVANA came, they encouraged us to form a more comprehensive association,” Dornin said.

“We were encouraged to reinforce collaboration over competition.”

Recognizing the value of protecting and sharing the sea instead of battling for its spoils, the local fishing communities turned to a government program called Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA). With the guidance of FIOVANA, fishermen learned how to pull back from the brink of ecological disaster.

As elected president of the LMMA, Dornin oversaw the sweeping changes in his community: strict regulations on the size and season of fish, shrimp and lobster; banning the use of mosquito nets as fishing nets; reforestation projects along the seashore; even beach cleanup days.

The impacts on the health of the marine area and the community were profound, but most noticeable for many was the impact on their income.

As a unified front, the LMMA has more bargaining power with seafood brokers—the same ones who had grown rich exploiting these poor fishing communities. Instead of accepting the criminally low price of the past, the LMMA demanded a much higher price, a standard rate they had learned in visits to other LMMAs in the area.

“Now that we work as a larger community, we can set the price instead of being cheated by the collectors,” Dornin said. “The project taught us we have that power. Thank you for changing our mentality. Now we know our value.”

Today, the sea is more protected, the income is higher, and for the first time in years, the people of this community are optimistic about the future.

“People have savings for the first time now, and more resources to help us survive,” Dornin said. “We believe we are protecting the future of our children. Fiovana helped us see that we needed to protect the marine area so we can protect the generations to come.”