Building partnerships between artisanal fishing groups and local authorities to protect critically endangered scalloped hammerheads and threatened shark species in Colombia
Impact shark conservation leveraging: local stakeholders’ partnerships for marine conservation and coastal development in Chocó, Colombia; awareness generation among decision makers and fisher communities on the critical ecological role of sharks for marine sustainability and social wellbeing; fostering of behavioral change among fishers through practical training and promotion of best practices to reduce targeted captures and by-catch of threatened species; capacity building towards improved regulations within the Action Plan for the MPA ‘Regional District of Integrated Management of Bajo Baudó’/DRMI-BB (emphasis: migratory, breeding and feeding sites including pelagic waters, mangroves, estuaries); disseminating project results to encourage replication and escalation.
*Participatory workshops:
- in coastal communities to train artisanal fishers on shark species ecology, habitat, behavior, ecosystem role, growth rates, fishing good practices for their capture (includes practical exercise/role play to showcase vulnerability of shark populations).
- with fishers and authorities for collaborative analysis and local acknowledgement of gear, fishing areas and seasons generating largest shark catch.
*Participatory resource management (fishers/authorities):
- Development of a consensus recommendation for improved local regulation
- Presented to regional environmental authority
- Voluntary adoption in the MPA
*Results divulgation:
- production and publication of a Guide to Stop Shark Depletion in Artisanal Fisheries
- learnings dissemination (local community radio, social networks).
