Clams and tripe consumption worldwide is growing. Their flavor and texture have attracted the attention of domestic and export markets. Buyers are looking for these products fresh and with good handling practices, so it is necessary to identify and document the route that takes the product from the sea to the consumer's table, which is known as traceability. These procedures make it possible to know the origin and history of a product throughout the supply chain, promoting transparency.

In Mexico, a fishing organization that carries out sustainable practices for tripe found the opportunity to trace the route of these products from the sea to the consumer's table. When the callus is caught, each organism is tagged with a tag and QR code. Afterwards, the end consumer scans it with his cell phone and obtains information about the fishing cooperative, place of cultivation and the sustainable fishing practices used since its cultivation and use. Thus, the effort of the fishing organization and its sustainable practices are recognized, the quality of the product, its legal origin and the health of the consumer are assured.

A harvest strategy is a set of formally or traditionally agreed tools used to ensure good resource utilization. In clam and tripe fisheries, harvest strategies are defined based on the best available information. However, sometimes the strategies and rules are not applicable with the same recipe throughout the country due to variations in the biological, environmental and social conditions of each region. This lack of information at the local level poses a challenge to define strategies according to the local characteristics of the fishery and to evaluate its performance. To address this need, we have worked together with all the stakeholders involved (fishing communities, government, academia and civil society organizations), generating information through fishing logs to ensure that fishing is carried out in accordance with the strategies implemented. By incorporating the knowledge of the communities to the information recorded, it is possible to generate new participatory strategies, better adapted to local conditions.

Integrated management zones (IMZ) are an innovative approach for the management and recovery of bivalves, applied in the clam and callus fisheries in Mexico. To implement this tool, the following was done: 1) the work area was defined and delimited; 2) areas with suitable characteristics for bivalve culture were identified with the communities; 3) biological (measurements and weight of the organisms) and ecological (abundance, diversity, richness and distribution of the species) information was generated for the proposed area, and it was submitted to a vote among the users for its establishment as IMZ; and, 5) systematic monitoring was implemented to identify long-term changes.

This story began with a cooperative that wanted to recover the populations of callo de hacha. It was later replicated by a cooperative of young commercial divers and later by a group of women who consolidated as a cooperative to recover the estuarine clam population. The results have been positive; e.g., the population of callo went from 0 to 13,000 individuals in five years in an area of 25 hectares, collecting seeds from the natural environment.

By their nature, small-scale fisheries tend to have limited, poorly systematized data and short time scales. This scarcity of information represents a challenge for understanding, for example, the interaction of fishing gear with the ecosystem and its impact on the habitat; such information is fundamental in the implementation of a fishery improvement project. Around the world, different methodologies have been developed to generate information on the impacts of the fishery on the ecosystem; one of them is the modeling based on the Ecopath program with Ecosim.
COBI used this tool including information generated by fishermen and fisherwomen through fishing logs, as well as biological and ecological information for the species that inhabit the fishing zones. In addition, to strengthen the model, the traditional ecological knowledge of the fishing communities was integrated through the application of interviews, from which relevant information was obtained on the diet of the species, their geographic distribution, reproductive season and sightings.

When we think of fishing, we imagine spaces where men predominate and the only activity is the extraction of resources. In order to have a complete picture of the fishery, it is important to include post-harvest, pre-harvest and complementary activities. This allows us to know the fishery in more detail and to identify and recognize the work carried out by fishermen and fisherwomen.

Since 2015, COBI has participated in implementing fishery improvement projects in collaboration with the productive sector. In addition to environmental improvements, these projects currently seek social improvements that include gender equality. At the beginning of these projects, it was identified that the work done by women, not being extractive work, was not recognized as part of the fishery, a paradigm that is being broken with years of work.

As the public-private partnership improved approaches to conservation, it became clear that the challenges being faced on site were affected by its wider context. It was vital to recognise the Vesuvian area and wider socio-economic dynamics, as a source of opportunities, not threats, that could reinforce site management. Heritage was increasingly viewed as a shared responsibility.

A key initiative was the Herculaneum Centre, a non-profit association founded by the heritage authority, the municipality and a research institute to consolidate a network of local, national and international partners. For 5 years, it implemented an activity programme focused on stimulating new types of involvement in Ercolano’s heritage. The capacity to work with others was enhanced within institutions and civil society through research networks, community projects and a variety of learning environments.

The trust of local partners created conditions, unimaginable ten years earlier, for the regeneration of a difficult urban district adjacent to the archaeological site known as Via Mare.

With the Centre’s programme completed, this tradition of cooperation has been taken forward by Herculaneum’s new heritage authority, supported by the Packard foundation and other partners.

The enhanced leadership of the fishers who are elected to represent their communities in MIHARI’s different activities is vital for the network to exist as a true fishers’ movement. Their self-confidence to speak up and active participation in the discussions and consultations, support and feed the partnership between NGOs and LMMAs communities.

In 2015 started the consultations among all MIHARI members, to establish a clear and functioning structure. There are 45 fishers who are elected to be representatives of their region, and who meet regionally or nationally every year. They also have opportunities during these events to approach directly government officials, which has had a great impact.

Since its creation, MIHARI has always involved the government authorities, at the highest level. It has made the Ministries of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, as well as of Environment, visible, as they were both cited as main partners, host of conferences, etc. MIHARI has also consulted the authorities along processes, such as the formalisation of a reference guide on LMMAs, the first of this kind in the country, to be hopefully eventually integrated in the national law.