Heading out for a day on the boats. Photo by Melissa Espinoza.
In early October, the 7th Scientific Fish Monitoring event was held in the Bahía Santa Elena Marine Management Area, which is part of Área de Conservación Guanacaste. This protected bay is surrounded by a wild coastline of beaches, mangroves and forest, and it serves as an important breeding area for many marine species, including dolphins, whales, turtles, the endangered whale shark, and several species of rays. It became a Marine Management Area in 2018, as part of a community effort to protect the bay and reserve it for specials uses, such as conservation of marine life, fostering recreation and tourism, and sustainable fishing.
These monitoring events began in 2021 and are held twice per year. Spearheaded by the CC-MAR citizen science effort, and supported by ACG and GDFCF, among others, the aim of these events is to collect data from both the dry and rainy seasons in an effort to collect data on the fishery resources of the bay. This event had 44 participants, including community members, researchers, and fishers, and the team caught 132 different species of fish. For each fish caught, the team collected data, tagged the fish, and released it back into the bay. Such data, along with information on ecosystems and fishing patterns, helps ensure that informed conservation decisions can be made, and aquatic resources can be managed responsibly. As noted in an article on the ACG website, “By involving fishermen and the local population, greater awareness is generated about the importance of conservation and sustainability, which can reduce destructive fishing practices, ensuring their source of income in the long term, diversifying their economic activities and obtaining additional benefits such as ecotourism.”
GDFCF is pleased to support this event and grateful to CC-MAR for making it happen. We also thank the Wege Foundation, the Wallace Genetic Foundation, and New England Biolabs Foundation for supporting this important work.
The article on the ACG website can be found here, and an article in the Tico Times about the event is here.
Recording data. Photo by Melissa Espinoza.
The participants, following the day's events. Photo by Melissa Espinoza.