August 31, 2016
together with the community, the first fish fingerling activity of the “Fishing Repopulation Plan for Native Species in the La Pachita and Mata de Palma Marshes” has been implemented.
As part of the implementation of Drummond Ltd.’s., environmental programs, together with the community, the first fish fingerling activity of the “Fishing Repopulation Plan for Native Species in the La Pachita and Mata de Palma Marshes” has been implemented. This project is being executed with Prodeco to sow more than two million fish fingerlings of the Bocachico and Dorada species. The communities that will be directly benefitted will be Potrerillo, La Loma, and Puente Canoa in the municipality of El Paso.
The following entities were present at the sowing of fish fingerlings in the La Pachita and Mata de Palma marshes: Drummond Ltd., Prodeco, Corporcesar, the National Environmental License Agency (ANLA), the National Aquaculture and Fishing Authority (ANUAP), the Governorship of Cesar headed by the Environmental Secretariat, the Fauna Caribe Colombiana Foundation, fishing communities, Community Action Boards of the El Paso -Cesar municipality, and entities committed to the preservation and conservation of the Colombian Caribbean.
It was explained that the project will have a duration of two years, and will include four fish fingerling sowing processes in each marsh. In addition, a space was opened for the community to present their concerns, and which were subsequently resolved by the representatives of the communities leading the project.
It was also presented that in Mata de Palma, Bocachico fish fingerlings will be sowed in four portions of 321,125, for a total of 1,284,500, and 140,000 fish fingerlings of Dorada in four portions of 35,000. On the other hand, La Pachita will receive 550,000 fish fingerlings of Bocachico and 60,000 of Dorada.
“In the name of the Asopesco Association, I would like to thank the entities who have supported the project because with these sowings we will be able to improve our way of life. It is a very beautiful project that we must care for and support, because it will be useful for the future, for our nutrition, and for the activity that we perform which is fishing,” declared Alvaro Ditta Muñoz, president of the Community Action Board (JAC) for Potrerillo, and a fisherman for more than ten years.
On the other hand, Armando Calvano, Environmental Compensation Director for Drummond Ltd, explained that due to anthropic factors, the number of fishes has been decreasing in the different marshes of the country, and the Mata de Palma and La Pachita marshes are part of the ecosystems of the Caribbean region, and therefore have also been affected by the reduction in fishing activity.
“The idea with this sowing activity is for fishermen to receive training, that they learn to respect the sizes of capture, the fishing gear essential for it, while learning how to protect these living crops that are present in the marshes. If they allow that these fish fingerlings that we are releasing today to reach a mature age and reproduce, the program is really going to be a success. The program is not about sowing so they can harvest; the program is about sowing to that the ecosystem can recover, so that reproduction takes place, and so that fishing productivity increases. With the above I don´t mean that fishermen are going to have to slow down their activity; they can continue to fish because the marshes are productive, but what we want is for them to respect the minimum sizes so that the fish that are captured are the appropriate ones, and in this way this productive activity can be more sustainable,” assured Armando Calvano.
During the development of the project that began with the sowing of the La Pachita marsh, the entities actively participated and showed their commitment with the project, which will benefit the populations of the mining area of influence.
“Repopulation is a missionary process performed by the AUNAP, with the purpose of mitigating the over-fishing being carried out by fishermen, in the natural bodies of water. The entity replaces these animals that are captured through illegal means, for native species such as Bocachico. This project is of great importance because it teaches fishermen the sizes they should fish, as well as the importance of the sizes for the reproduction of the sowed fish fingerlings,” assured Roimer Hernandez Gonzalez, Coordinator for the AUNAP in the department of Cesar.
With this project that will benefit hundreds of families, Drummond Ltd., reaffirms its environmental and social commitment, and shows how it is a generator of local, regional, and national progress, contributing to a better quality of life for the communities.
