Parley Mexico’s Ximena Arvizu reports on a unique initiative in Campeche to engage fishing communities in the fight against plastic pollution

Located on a narrow isthmus separating the Laguna de Términos from the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the magical little town of Isla Aguada is full of history, pirate stories and active community members who love the ocean.

The vast lagoon is a gorgeous Marine Protected Area that’s home of hundreds of dolphins – and its beautiful RAMSAR-recognized wetlands are a key nursery area for eagle rays, sharks, migratory birds and many species of commercial importance to local people – including shrimp, crab and snapper. Sitting down at the esplanade watching the sunset and seeing the dolphins jump is definitely a magical moment that captivated each and every one of the members of Parley Mexico's team.

The first time we visited Isla Aguada was early this year, when a couple of the locals took us to see the mangroves and showed us some ghost nets dumped in this fragile and important ecosystem. At that moment, we knew we had to come back and do something to help. We reached out to our partners at CONANP – the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas – to see what we could contribute, and slowly the idea for a fishing gear interception tournament took shape.

Our friends at CONANP recommended we contact Santiago Puch: a community leader, fisher and tour operator who is passionate about marine conservation who we had met earlier this year. We quickly got in touch with him and he also had a plan… a mangrove cleanup before the tournament. All the pieces aligned and so there we went, hoping to intercept as much ghost fishing gear and unused fishing gear in the bodegas of the community members.

With the help of 20 volunteers from the community, six boats and two hours of effort and a lot of fun, the mangrove cleanup was a big success. Together, we collected 304.60Kg of debris of which 50kg was plastic and 53kg comprised lost fishing gear. The next day, we got to the “Fragata de Isla Aguada '' cooperative super early and ready for action but all of a sudden mother nature had other plans, and the rain began. Hours passed and nobody arrived – so we began to worry. Is anybody coming? Is this tournament going to be a disaster?

At midday, the rain finally stopped and our first participant arrived with 20kg of waste! Still we worried – would anyone else show up? All of a sudden, a truck arrives with a huge load – finally! The community members start to call Santiago, asking if we are still receiving fishing gear. The sun is shining and the fishers start to arrive with kg after kg in an amazing effort. In the end, we collected over 700kg of waste fishing gear waste. Our first place winners managed to collect over 300kg while our second and third place collected 266kg and 198kg. It was a relief that everyone came through, the weather improved and the community and our team had a blast intercepting all this waste. We we definitely be back for a second round – and to keep discovering the wonders of Isla Aguada.