I originally met Enrique Espinoza, Cooperativa Progresso Administrator, in 2008 when Juanchy a
colorful local fisherman had arranged a trip for me with the local abalone
divers.
Subsequently I wrote a Roadtrek column titled "A New
Breed…Time Will Tell" praising Enrique and his group's efforts attempting
to restore their local abalone and lobster fisheries to sustainable levels.
I wrote "After
watching the commercial fishermen and their Cooperativa's decimate marine
resource after resource in Baja over the years, listening to Enrique as he
enthusiastically outlined goals and techniques being implemented by his group
to maintain the resources, I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of hope that maybe
some of the new breed of commercial fishermen are beginning to get it
right!"
Recently I returned to La Bocana and was invited by my
friend Enrique to tour their Aquaculture facility where they were growing
abalone. Seriously, home grown abalone?
What a concept! I can see a run
on Aquarium equipment stores when this gets out.
Of course, I accepted and recruited another friend, Pedro
Sors, producer and host of Cana y Carrete, a popular Mexican sportfishing television
program, as my interpreter.
We began the tour of the nearly 9,000 sq ft. facility in a
narrow room with tiled walls and white plastic buckets arranged around the parameter
where a brood stock of twenty abalone mate and reproduce enough larva to
ultimately replenish the abalone harvested, and more.
Using ultraviolet lights to stimulate growth the larvae
begin to grow. When they have reached a predetermined size, they are transferred
into temperature-controlled vats and fed
a carefully monitored plankton diet. They remain in these vats until
they have grown to be visible to the naked eye. The next step is to move the
now visible mollusks to the more than twenty recirculation tanks located in a
large outside area. Each tank is
equipped with special boxes made of plastic
sheeting for the larvae to cling to as they continue to grow.
As the crop of eight to nine thousand grow, they are
carefully monitored and each individual abalone is assigned a number which in
placed on the top of their now formed shell, allowing the staff to fine-tune
the diet of each generation for optimum results. Most of the abalone are
transplanted to the wild in ten to eleven months and are about 1 inch in
diameter at that time.
Oceanologist Aguilar Daniel and Jose Manuel Aguilar
technical assistant maintain the facility normally. Only when the workload
increases are additional personnel brought in to assist them.
The entire system was developed initially by visits to
similar facilities in other countries around the world along with the help of
visiting technicians from the United States, Japan and Chile, to name just a
few of the countries that assisted in the early stages of this remarkable
program.
With the knowledge provided and many trial and error
adjustments which allowed for local temperature fluctuations along the Pacific,
as well as adjustments to the algae and seaweed diet, the success rate has grown and the mortality rate
remains at only 5%. The twenty-three year-old program has become extremely efficient,
allowing for the harvest of abalone while returning enough to juveniles to the
beds to maintain the sustainability of this valuable shellfish resource for the
community.
While the Cooperativa's success with the abalone is
impressive, there is much more. The lobster population which was once nearly
decimated by overharvesting along the coast line in the 40-kilometer concession
assigned to the group was recently named as one of five lobster habitats in the
world that have returned to sustainable levels. . .a remarkable achievement for
this remote community of approximately 1,500.
Beginning his
second term as Administrator at the beginning of the year, Enrique
Espinoza, Cooperativa Progresso Administrator's
excitement is infectious as he explains the successes of his group. His eyes
sparkle as he proudly gives the details of how the nearly 200 members
voted to forbid gillnets in the nine-mile-long La Bocana estero effective at
the beginning of 2011, and the protection of Merro (black seabass and grouper)
making it illegal to catch them commercially as well as limiting them recreationally.
To replace the loss of income for the local fishermen, he is
now encouraging members to look to sportfishing for a more reliable income
stream. His organization now offers several programs for members to purchase on
credit quality sportfishing equipment at a deep discount for those who choose
that path, as well as promoting the nine-mile estuary for sportfishing,
building small cabins, and training members to conduct sportfishing trips.
Cooperativa Progresso
and their leader, Enrique Espinoza, are a shining light in the dimly lit
world of Baja commercial fishing.
