The Gulf of Californiaalso known as Sea of Cortezand named aquarium of the world by the French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau because of its great biodiversity, it needs to be protected and conserved by the citizens of the five states that share this region, assuming the role of guardians of the ecosystem, considered María Ugarte Luiselli.
Interviewed by Sea of Cortez Forumthe Executive Director of the Citizen Observer Network (ROC) expressed the importance of citizen participation in the conservation of the Gulf of Californiathe only sea on the planet that belongs exclusively to one country, in this case to Mexico.
ROC, a protection model
ROC was officially created in 2013, as a result of the merger of La Paz Coastkeeper and the Citizen Observatorytwo organizations that had been working for several years in La PazBaja California Sur.
Since then, ROC has taken on the role of biodiversity watchdog of the Gulf of Californiafrom San José Island a Cerralvo IslandThe company has made concrete evidence of the threats facing the ecosystem available to the authorities.
Ugarte Luiselli stressed the shared responsibility between authorities and citizens, focusing on the urgent need to sensitize society to the responsibility of caring for the country's natural capital.
"The conservation of biodiversity is an obligation of all Mexicans, starting with the authorities who have the authority and competence to work and take care of the country's natural capital; however, we citizens also have this obligation. We are depositaries, speaking of the Gulf of California, of an impressive natural capital", he emphasized.
He stressed that the Gulf of California faces challenges such as illegal fishing and lack of awareness of the consequences of human activities. ROCthrough its network of citizen observers, has been able not only to highlight problems, but also to collaborate with authorities to enforce the law and protect natural resources.
Everyone's responsibility
When they put the first panga in the water to carry out citizen surveillance in the Bay of La Pazwas because they were aware of the problem of the illegal fishingalthough the authority denied this, recalls the Executive Director of ROC. The intention was to collect evidence and show it to the authorities so that they would do something about it.
Ugarte Luiselli clarified that as a citizens' organization they do not have the competence or authority to act against irregular actions, but they do have the right to point out and communicate to the authorities when something is happening.
"Today, we cooperate with the authorities so that, despite the lack of federal resources, they can carry out their work, exercise authority and enforce the law," he said.
He stressed that the Gulf of California is a natural capital that belongs not only to Mexicans or to the inhabitants of the five states that share it, but to the entire planet and, therefore, the responsibility for its care and conservation falls on everyone.
Citizen cells in the Gulf of California
Currently, ROC has established citizen surveillance cells for the Bay of La Paz, San José Island, Espiritu Santo Island e Cerralvo Islandhas also replicated this model with fishermen from the communities of San Basilio y Green Waterin the area of Loreto, BCS; at CozumelQRoo, QRoo, and are about to start with two cooperatives of National Marshesin Nayarit y Sinaloa.
The vision of ROC is to replicate these citizen cells in other regions of the country. Gulf of Californiainvolving citizens in the collection of data on illegal fishing, pollution and other risks to biodiversity.
"With the passage of time, we have managed to get other fishing communities to request our support to train them in citizen surveillance and data collection; thus, with the sum of our efforts we will be able to predict illegal fishing, because the problem is the same everywhere," Ugarte Luiselli emphasized.
If this citizen network were to grow sufficiently and if there were cells in all the states, it would be a very powerful group, with greater influence to be heard by the authorities.
Diploma and training in marinas
María Ugarte Luiselli clarified that ROC not only focuses on the issue of illegal fishing, but also addresses many other aspects that also have the objective of ensuring conservation of the Gulf of California and its biodiversity.
For this reason, they periodically carry out water quality monitoring work that allows them to know the state of health in strategic points of the Bay of La Paz and identify sources of contamination.
In addition, as a major civic step, they will be offering a course in coordination with the Autonomous University of Baja California Surcalled Nature Watchers School.
In the case of the course, he explained that it will be open to students of all UABCS majors and to any committed citizen who wants to contribute to the conservation of nature.
"It will be held on weekends, in the University's classrooms, with professors teaching topics including: how to be a responsible citizen, how to report illegal activity, how to take a useful photograph for reports, responsible environmental practices, among others," he said.
Those who graduate from this Nature Watchers School may join a committee of Profepa to be citizen watchdogs, he stressed.
They are also encouraging increased citizen participation through training in marinas to yacht owners, who can contribute by recording what they see on their voyages.
"They don't have to get involved for anyone or do anything else other than register in the program that we provide them; this way information is generated that allows us to know the presence of species, sightings, etc.," he explained.
It is the same yard for everyone and we must take care of it.
María Ugarte Luiselli stressed that Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Sonora, Baja California y Nayarit share in the Sea of Cortez the same playground and everyone should want it to be healthy, mega-diverse, with clean water, so everyone can help make it happen.
"We are all responsible for what happens and each person involved adds up and adds up to improve. Imagine the capacity that a person has with his phone, the information he can give us to be able to say where we are going to make plans to mitigate that damage or that pollution problem," he stressed.
Ugarte Luiselli emphasized that, if we want progress and well-being in the Gulf of Californiais essential that there is a healthy biodiversity and a healthy ROC is demonstrating that collective power can bring about significant change in the conservation of this natural heritage.
