“The ocean not only provides for us today; we have to leave something for tomorrow.”

What are your early memories of the ocean?

I have a lot of memories of the ocean, beautiful memories. I remember that I cried when my father went fishing with my older brother, because they didn’t want to take me with them. I was a very curious child and could not wait to experience the fishing life. There was no school in the village and there was little to do for children, so I spent a lot of time on the beach. I was fascinated by the birds, shrimp, fish: all the animals I could see from the beach. When I was older and my dad took me with him in his boat, I learned more about marine life. Finally, I had the opportunity to become a fisherman, just like my father, grandfather and great-grandfather. To this day I still love fishing and the sea.

And today, what does the ocean mean to you?

The ocean sustains my family, and the rest of our community, every day. We always say that the ocean not only provides for us today; we have to leave something for tomorrow. Fishing is the most beautiful thing in the world, but we need to take care of the marine ecosystem so that future generations can keep fishing. The ocean gives us everything we need: fish, shrimp, crab – even oxygen. Mangroves are like lungs that provide oxygen to all of us. I am part of an association that has permission to use a mangrove area to fish for shrimp and I am very aware that we have to protect it.

The tradition of fishing with mesh bags started 50 years ago, but when I was young only a few fishers used this technique; in the past few years mesh bag fishing gained popularity. There was enough shrimp, until I noticed that more and more people came to fish in the area. I then realized that we had to join forces to preserve the marine resources for future generations.

I applied for the position of director at the Association of Artisanal Fishermen of Bioaquatic and Related Species Isla Escalante and in 2016 I started working with WWF-Ecuador. We implemented a pilot project with the objective to assess a rights-based management system for the artisanal shrimp fishery that benefits both the fishery and the marine ecosystem. The communities in the area participated in the monitoring of their catches and in the sustainable management of the fishery. My role in this project, that would feed into a national action plan, was to coordinate meetings and other activities of the community related to the project.

Can you explain the fishing technique you use? 

We use nylon nets that range from 10 meters to 50 meters. In the ocean we attach these fishing nets to stakes and then we wait for what the current brings us. Between May and October we fish for shrimp, after which we prepare the net to fish for crab and jellyfish. During the closed season we do not fish at all to give the juveniles time to mature. This way we give the ecosystem a break. For 2020, the closed season lasted two months: 15 January through 15 March.

What changes have you witnessed in the community?  

In recent years, most of the changes in the community have been positive. Before, the fishermen did not take responsibility. Activities like monitoring the catches, combined with the workshops organized by WWF, increased our awareness significantly. At the start of the project, I went door to door to collect the catch information of each fisher myself, but in a later stage we trained other people to support the data collection. Step by step, we as a community took responsibility and understood the value of a sustainable fishery; the response of the community was incredible.

It is vital that fishermen know how to manage their resources sustainably. We export the shrimp to international markets like the United States and Europe; it is a very important resource in the Gulf of Guayaquil. Thanks to this project I learned a lot, I never had the opportunity to study and WWF taught me and the rest of the community many new things. For example, we simply did not know the importance of releasing small shrimp (juveniles) so they have time to mature. In addition to sustainable fishing practices, we also learned how to take better care of the product we sell. And this experience did not only benefit our community. Fishermen from other villages visited us to learn from our fishing practices and to organise themselves in a similar way.

What are the major challenges for a sustainable fishery in the Gulf of Guayaquil?

I am concerned about the increasing number of fishermen in the area. Our community had only 15 houses when I was a child. Now it counts 120 houses. It is important that the rules that are established for the fishery, such as the minimum mesh size, are also controlled and followed by all of us. Sometimes the existence of different authorities and institutions complicates the work, but our association wants to focus on working toward a sustainable fishery – we want to continue the same line as when we were working with WWF.

In July 2020, the Ecuadorian government announced a new regulation for the fishery, but I do not entirely agree with its implementation. Due to the new rules, there are now even more people fishing with mesh bags, some of them have never fished before. They do not have the same knowledge that our community has. However, on a positive note, the new regulation has legalised our fishery and we now have an official agreement on the price of our shrimp.

What improvements do you see for the future?

An idea I have had for a few years now is developing a more direct trade chain. We fishermen could sell our products directly to the factory where the shrimp is processed without an intermediary company. It would be a more fair and sustainable trade. Now, because of the pandemic, the fishing communities experience difficult times: fishermen did not fish for several months and sometimes they have nothing to eat, let alone to sell. We need to improve the sector for people to get out of this situation.

As an Ocean Witness, what is your message to the world?

Taking care of our ocean is for the survival of the entire world. We have to take care of it if we want a future for our children and grandchildren.

About Julián

Julián Marcial (54) was born in Puerto Salina on Isla Escalante, a small island south of Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest port city. The area consists mainly of mangroves and shrimp farms and most people fish for their livelihood, including Julián’s grandfather, father and his oldest son. Passionate about the ocean and fishing, a few years ago Julián started working with his community, WWF and other organisations on a sustainable and fair fishery in the Gulf of Guayaquil.

Pablo Guerrero, Marine Conservation Director at WWF-Ecuador:

Sustainable fishing practices protect marine habitats while supporting the livelihoods of communities depending on the oceans. The project in the Gulf of Guayaquil is an example of a community-led initiative that allows a sustainable management of the area’s artisanal fishery. Regulating mesh bag fishing helps conserving the fish populations and at the same time safeguards a traditional fishing technique for future generations.

Within the framework of the artisanal fishery management project, we are planning to implement a traceability pilot with the support of the Coastal Fisheries Initiative (CFI) and a sustainable financing mechanism that allows us to continue with the co-management plan. These management models balancing conservation with socioeconomic development can be replicated in other coastal communities in Ecuador and other countries in Latin America.

Photo credit header: Antonio Busiello / WWF-US