Dr. Gloria Fermina Tavera Alonso, Director of Conservation for the National Commission for Protected Natural Areas (Conanp), explains that the objective of declaring protected areas in the Triángulos Island and Cayo Arenas, off the coast of Campeche and northwest of Celestún, is to protect marine resources, since according to official figures from the National Commission for Aquaculture and Fisheries (Conapesca), there is a decrease in the catch volumes of various commercial marine species.
In an interview with the newspaper, Dr. Tavera Alonso maintains that Conanp does not prohibit fishing, nor does it sanction fishermen and boats that invade the areas declared protected natural areas.
He explains that the proposal to share the information on the declaration of a protected natural area in the reefs of the southern region of Mexico to protect the sites of aggregation and reproduction of the biodiversity of marine life, of which many species are commercially exploited, such as lobster, red snapper, octopus, and grouper, which are the main fisheries that support many families in the southern region of the Gulf of Mexico.
“Everyone knows, even fishermen, that the decrease in populations that are declining, caused by many factors, has reduced the volume of grouper, especially in sizes, so it is important to protect the sites where they reproduce and grow and can go out to places where they can be exploited with better sizes,” he emphasizes.
He specified that the proposal, which does not have a date for it to come into effect and declare the area as a protected area, is to protect the territory and the species that live there; in those areas, fishing is allowed, since the category of protected natural area, when it is in marine areas, does allow fishing.
“Fishing is not allowed in the core areas, which are areas of reproduction, aggregation, and growth, which is established by coordinates, which are located with the fishermen to locate the sites where they fish and make the necessary adjustments to those sites, which is ultimately for the common good,” he said.
The purpose of declaring a Protected Natural Area is to protect the reef areas because ultimately if those sites disappear since they are now affected by climate change and the increase in ocean temperatures, 60 percent of the fisheries will be lost because small species live on the reefs.
The entry into force of the declaration of a protected natural area, he says, is not overnight, it is a process through a collective agreement with the fishermen; the process takes time, there is an exchange of information and it does not affect the economy, because there is a decrease in populations and the economy of seafarers is diminished, it hits the fishing sector hard; what is sought is to protect the resource and the fishermen.
At the fisheries meeting it was stated that in an area of 500,000 hectares of the Northern Zone Shallows of the Alacranes Reef, about 40 miles north of Perez Island, there is a protected area where fishing is not permitted, it is closed to the activity. In the Southern Zone Shallows, there is an area of 200,000 hectares protected, in which there is a nucleus where fishing is also not permitted.
Conanp, through Dr. Gloria Tavera, presented the proposal to declare a polygon of four million hectares that includes the coasts of Campeche and Yucatan as a protected natural area, in which it is specified that in an area of 200,000 hectares nuclei will be established in which all fishing activity will be prohibited.
The areas where these nuclei are planned to be established, considered by Conanp as nurseries for the reproduction of marine species, are located on Isla Triángulos and Cayo Arenas, in the jurisdiction of Campeche, where fishing will not be permitted.
The polygon goes from these two keys to the shallows of the Alacranes reef.
TYT Newsroom
