This project involves fishermen and other actors in planning their future use of the coastal marine area of the Puerto Peñasco Corridor, but it also seeks meaningful engagement of stakeholders from the onset by engaging them in implementing actions to improve ecosystem management. Many practitioners of CMSP are frustrated with the timeframe involved in moving from planning to implementation. Stakeholders get frustrated too. This project gets stakeholders involved in activities such as cleaning beaches, monitoring resources, analyzing data, distributing materials to their communities and in supporting youth in their community. It shows them what collective action is and how it can be implemented in so many ways. It also serves in building their capactiy for ecosystem management.
CEDO is involved in programs for youth and other community members, such as resource monitoring and beach cleanups and we conduct other activities to engage people. We offer opportunities for stakeholders to be involved in concrete actions that have an immediate impact on their children, their beaches and their understanding of resources. While the long planning process takes place, these actions serve to inspire participants and to show them what they can accomplish by participating and working together.
Fishermen don't understand the time-scale required for an integrated management program. They get impatient and want immediate results, which is why it is important to engage them in the work that needs to be done to develop a functional managment system. Sometimes we forget to remind them of the big picture and the timeline that shows where they are going and what they have accomplished so far. They fear the government will not do their part in this process. Maintaining active engagement of all levels of the government is key, but also a challenge, as individuals are changing. Government is constantly being approached to solve problems in the short term rather than using a more comprehensive, integrated approach and so fishers must be encouraged to wait. Creating spaces for communities to meet with government is important. Long-term funding for such a comprehensive and integrated approach needs to be guaranteed.