Medidas de Gestao das Pescarias Marinhas e Aquicultura 2019 The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018 | Page 178

PART 3 HIGHLIGHTS OF ONGOING STUDIES
BOX 24
SAFER DIVE FISHING IN NICARAGUA THROUGH SOUTH–SOUTH COOPERATION: A SUCCESS STORY
Apnea dive fishing (in which no breathing apparatus
is used) has been practised along the islands and
autonomous northern territories of Nicaragua for
centuries. Reef fish, queen conch and lobster have
always been part of the diet of Miskito indigenous
communities. By the early 1970s, the Caribbean spiny
lobster (Panulirus argus) became a commercially
important species and began to be exported. Thus the
fishing effort drastically increased, and the hookah
dive system was introduced to enable fishers to dive in
deeper waters. By 2013 some 9 200 people were
part of the lobster fishery in this part of Nicaragua, of
which 2 390 were dive fishers. Capture volume
reached 4 000 tonnes and exports amounted to
USD 45 million (INPESCA & FAO, 2014).
With the increasing number of hookah dive fishers,
the number of diving accidents also increased, often
resulting in death or permanent disability. According to
the Nicaraguan Institute of Fisheries (INPESCA), by
2011, 1 100 divers had been affected by hyperbaric
diseases, of which 528 had severe disability
(INPESCA, 2011). The Government of Nicaragua
requested FAO´s technical assistance in 2013 to
formulate a strategy to reduce fatal diving accidents in
fishing, while exploring opportunities to improve the
sustainability of the country’s lobster fishery.
FAO, in close collaboration with INPESCA, through
the Mesoamerica Hunger-Free Program, developed an
Action Plan for the Technological Conversion of the
Caribbean Lobster Fishery and facilitated a South–
South cooperation programme with Mexico´s National
Institute of Fisheries and a Mexican fishing cooperative.
A series of technical missions, hands-on training and pilot projects took place between 2013 and 2017.
Thirty Nicaraguan fishers worked two weeks with their
Mexican fisher counterparts, learning how to build and
operate lobster aggregation devices (LADs) to use in
shallower waters where apnea diving is feasible.
Nicaraguan fishers also learned how to employ locally
used, foldable lobster traps and disseminated the
acquired knowledge among their peers.
Members of the Mexican fishing cooperative
provided advice about site selection and construction
of LADs, and FAO assisted INPESCA in recording
lobster colonization processes and undertaking stock
estimates. Lobster processors from both countries met
and explored areas of collaboration.
The results so far have been highly encouraging:
fishers are testing the use of LADs with the assistance of
INPESCA, FAO and local universities. In 2015, 10
LADs were placed in a pilot operation. This number has
increased to 50 to meet the requests of fishers who
already perceive the advantages of higher lobster
concentration and the greater safety of apnea dive
fishing. In addition, the number of traps has increased
more than 120 percent. All of these actions have
resulted in at least a 45 percent reduction of fatal
accidents (Asamblea Nacional de Nicaragua, 2016).
The South-South cooperation programme also
stimulated exports. Two major processing plants have
been adapted to process live lobster, as opposed to
frozen lobster tails. Through this innovation, the overall
export income of the country increased by USD 20
million per year, which represents an increment of 40
percent over the 2013 figure (INPESCA, 2014).
aquaculture, a multistakeholder forum held in
Vigo, Spain each year since 2014. in fish processing being carried out by FAO and
partners in Côte d’Ivoire (FAO, 2017w), Ghana and
Sri Lanka indicate that process optimization is at
the heart of informed policy actions. In
collaboration with government authorities and the
private sector, FAO projects on aquaculture in East
and West Africa are promoting creation of
employment opportunities for youth and women,
enterprise and value chain development, extension
An ongoing multi-country review by FAO and the
International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel,
Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’
Associations (IUF) is addressing occupational
safety and health (OSH) issues in aquaculture (see
also Box 24). Multidisciplinary work on OSH issues
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