In the sea that bathes the coast of Yucatán, it is already difficult to find sea cucumbers, but the boom season of 'black gold' took such a toll that a cooperative is called “Pepineros de Río Lagartos”. This went from being mostly made up of men to being women and transitioned from fishing for marine invertebrates to the cultivation of oysters to avoid overfishing.
Rio Lagartos is a coastal town in the north of the Yucatan Peninsula, and has somehow positioned itself as a tourist site nationally and internationally for its flamingo sightings between April and August.
Most families offer sightseeing tours to see the pink birds or the crocodiles that live in their wetlands. A few more are dedicated to fishing, but with the passage of time they are the least, since they indicate that fish have diminished; for example, they used to go 5 to 10 miles to catch and now they travel up to 100 miles out to sea, often with little luck.
The sea that bathes the wetlands of Rio Lagartos. Photo: Itzel Chan.
Daniel Perera Baas saw an opportunity in oyster farming. Also, seven women who found in mollusks an inclusive form of work that allows mothers to be close to their sons and daughters while counting, cleaning and caring for shells.
Aurelia Perera Alcocer followed the example of her father Daniel and ventured into oyster management. Now she is one of those responsible for monitoring an area of 10 hectares in the sea, where they place lines attached to buoys and put oysters in small boxes suspended above the water.
Together with other women of different ages, they perform various tasks. They keep track of the sizes and weights of the shells, clean them of algae and other microorganisms that adhere to them and that can affect the growth of oysters, they even count, they talk to them.
“This involves a lot of passion, desire and effort for us because we don't have a salary, but we want to harvest so that each one of us works,” Perera shares.
Aurelia takes boat tours to monitor the area where oysters are kept. Photo: Itzel Chan.
Two years ago they managed to collect more than one ton of oysters and they hope that in the next harvest cycle they will do the same or better to distribute them in restaurants all over Yucatán, not just in their town.
“We decided to work with oysters because unlike other species, we think it gives us an inclusive job, because we have young partners, but also older ones, and for example, my mother has a hard time moving, but for her it's easy to come, sit and handle oysters in the sea without any problem,” she says.
Her mother is Guadalupe Alcocer Acosta and she precisely says that together with her husband they resorted to the cultivation of oysters due to overfishing. Since they noticed that the species began to diminish and it stopped being profitable.
“We see that fishing is becoming more difficult every day and then we came up with aquaculture as an option to obtain more income for our families and this is the first time that a cooperative has cultivated oysters here in the area,” he says.
They cultivate the American oyster and Guadalupe Perera, a member of the cooperative, shares that her dream is for this to be a project that will allow them to have a decent income because they put a lot of effort into caring for the oysters; for example, they wait until it reaches a size of at least six centimeters before being sold.
Members of the cooperative organize to cultivate oysters. Photo: Itzel Chan.
The cultivation of American oyster from Rio Lagartos has also advanced in states such as Tabasco and Tamaulipas, where 27 and 12 farms currently operate, respectively, a perspective that opens up a viable growth margin in Yucatán, according to a study prepared by researchers from the School of Natural Resources of the Marist University of Mérida and the Center for Biological Research of the Northwest (CIBNOR).
Although it is not the absolute solution to overfishing, aquaculture is an alternative, since many of the fishery resources are overexploited, says Dr. Silvia Márquez of the Department of Marine Resources, of the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (Cinvestav).
“Fisheries are super important for any country because they contribute to the generation of jobs, but the slice of the pie gets smaller when more people and more vessels enter (the sea), and although not all resources are overexploited, most of them are overexploited, most of them like groupers,” he describes.
The researcher highlights that the pressure of fishing is not precisely because people fish, but because, in addition to the high demand for the resource, other factors such as illegal fishing and irregular trade are added.
At the country level, there are more than 300 fisheries, but 51 are under more pressure because they have a significant demand, so the National Fisheries Charter 2023 considers these fisheries so that their management is regulated. Currently, 31 correspond to the Pacific coast; five to the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea and 15 to Continental Waters.
“For example, in Yucatán, the grouper is the icon that in the 70s and 80s it was possible to catch up to 20,000 tons with artisanal fishing, but more began to be caught industrially,” he says.
For the researcher, another factor that has led to an overfishing landscape is that species are caught in their breeding areas or, well, when they are still babies.
This activity allows their daughters and sons to accompany them. Photo: Itzel Chan.
Remember the case of sea cucumber, which until a few years ago was abundant. However, although it has been banned since 2015, it is still under siege from poaching. The situation has led the fishermen who relied on this fishery to diversify their interest in other species.
In the case of oysters, the women of the cooperative “Pepineros de Rio Lagartos” find a break, far from overfishing.
“In the cultivation of oysters, we found an opportunity for our community and we want tourists, in addition to seeing our sea, to come and see the work we do with oysters, to notice the love we place on them and to take away their memory”, shares Guadalupe Perera.
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