San Andres' Other Big Loser: The Environment?

The International Court of Justice's ruling last week slashing Colombia's territorial waters around the San Andres Archipelago was a disaster for the islands' fishermen, whose fishing opportunities appear to be drastically curtailed.



Ecotourism in San Andres' biosphere
reserve. (Photo: Changemakers)

But the environment will also suffer if Nicaragua does not continue Colombia's conservationist policies in maritime areas the court transferred to Nicaraguan control. Those areas include 54% of the  349,800 square kilometer Seaflower Biosphere Reserve and Marine Protected Area, which surrounds the islands. According to the San Andres government, it constitutes the largest marine protected area in the Americas, with more than 400 fish species, 54 soft coral species and 48 hard ones, 130 sponge species, 4 turtle species and 157 species of birds, among lots of other biodiversity.

 In addition, a year ago Pres. Juan Manuel Santos promised to ban oil drilling around the islands.

San Andres fishermen. They may find their
livelihood devastated in multiple ways.

Will Nicaragua be a good steward of its maritime environment (assuming that Colombia recognizes the court's ruling)? Unfortunately, Nicaraguan officials' initial remarks after the court decision have been about exploiting the region's resources, including undersea oil.

The answer is important not only for the region's biodiversity, but also for the fishermen's livelihoods. Fish do not recognize political frontiers, and destroying their breeding habitat will destroy fish populations throughout the Caribbean.

Doomed world? Fish swim in the Seaflower reserve. (Photo: ABC.es)

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Colombia Scores a 'C' on Coastal Health

Colombia's Coast: Not so well managed.

An index of nations' coastal health just released by Conservation International and the National Geographic Society ranks Colombia 94th out of 171 coastal regions, with a score of 52 out of a possible 100.

The study ranked countries and coastal regions on 10 measures including 'Clean Waters,' 'Tourism and Recreation,' 'Biodiversity,' 'Coastal Protection,' and 'Food Provision,' as well as the less clear 'Sense of Place.'

Doing pretty well: An artesanal
fisherman on Colombia's coast.

Colombia did best on 'Artisanal Fishing Opportunities,' with a score of 85, and 'Coastal Livelihoods and Economies,' where it scored 69. Both are indications of the still strong artisinal fishing communities on Colombia's coasts. It also did alright, with a 68, on 'Biodiversity,' 'Coastal Protection,' at 66, and 'Clean Waters' at 67, but got a poor 47 score on 'Natural Products,' which can mean either that Colombia is not exploiting marine resources sustainably as much as it could, or that it is exploiting them unsustainably. judging by the state of world marine resources, it seems most likely that they are being overexploited. Another discouraging number, related to the previous one, was Colombia's score of 51 on 'Carbon Storage.' That rating measures trends in the amount of carbon stored by Colombia's coastal ecosystems, such as marshes and mangrove forests. As environmental destruction degrades coastal ecosystems, biodiversity is lost and carbon gets released, accelerating global warming.

Doing very badly: Finned sharks. 

Overall, Colombia's scores are a reflection of its relatively low population and level of industrialization, which have given some protection to marine resources, or at least delayed some human impacts. But, increasingly industrialization, coal and other shipping, port construction and the expansion of urban areas both on the coast and inland, will increase impacts unless the country takes strong protective measures. And, no matter what Colombia does, its marine resources will still be under siege from fishing boats exploiting nearby international waters, since fish are no respectors of political boundaries - and marine resources are collapsing all over the globe, under pressure from trawlers and things like the Chinese hunger for shark fin soup.

Colombia took steps forward recently in marine protection with decisions not to expand the port of Buenaventura and to ban petroleum exploitation around the San Andres Archipelago. It also made an agreement with Costa Rica to work against shark massacres like one which took place last year in Colombian protected waters. Colombia's score of 0 (yes, that's a zero) on 'Tourism and Recreation' suggests that there's lots of room for Colombia to expand this sector sustainably, which would make Colombia's biodiversity more visible and increase motivation for protecting its resources.

A world-wide marine crisis is taking place. But it's happening mostly out of sight. And as long as seafood shelves remain stocked, few people but fishing families take notice.

Regionally, Colombia did better than neighbors Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama, but the South American leader was Brazil, with its huge Atlantic coastline.

For the complete report, see: http://www.oceanhealthindex.org/

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The Last Supper?

Going, going gone? Plates of fish in Las Nieves market. 

Like every Easter, this year Colombians packed fish markets and fish restaurants.

However, the great bounty of delicious, inexpensive fish hides the fact that many Colombian fish species are being overfished, and some researchers say that fisheries off of Colombia's Pacific coast are facing collapse. One study predicts severe shortages by the year 2030.

Marine ecology experts recommend buying fish which are caught by hook-and-line, rather than nets, particularly trawling, in which a net is dragged thru the ocean, catching and killing everything in its path. Sometimes, trawling kills 14 kgs of sealife for each kilo of edible fish.

Costa Rican-flagged ships have also been discovered in Colombian waters massacring sharks for their fins, which are sold to the Chinese to make soup. In almost all circumstances, it's a mistake hunt top predators.

It's also better to consume larger fish, which have had time to grow up and reproduce.

Enjoying Easter lunch. 

One United Nations study found that 80% of the world's fish species are being overfished. In 2009, Colombia received plaudits from the World Wildlife Fund for adopting practices to limit the take. However, the WWF observed that such measures are useless unless all the countries in the region adopt them.

Fish, the last major human food still captured in the wild, are particularly hard to manage because of what's called 'the tragedy of the commons.' Most of the world's oceans belong to no country, and fish and other species move from region to region. As a result, corporations and countries have strong incentives to overfish, because they reason, correctly, that if they do not, somebody else will.

Bagging fish in Palo Quemao Market. 

But that situation is a formula for collapsing all of the world's fish populations, leaving no fish for anybody.

And that, tragically, is what appears to be happening.

Here's a graphic showing which kinds of fish are most sustainable.

Find more information on Mar Viva's website.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Dried, salted fish for sale.