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The Spiny Lobster Initiative
Nicaragua
The Spiny Lobster Initiative in Nicaragua promotes sustainable fishing practices and biodiversity conservation through the System-wide Collaborative Action for Livelihoods and the Environment (SCALE) approach.
The initiative has completed the first two steps of the SCALE process. Nicaraguan staff spent over a month “mapping the context,” engaging opinion leaders from diverse groups in four of the main population centers and assessing their commitment to work together to improve the spiny lobster fishery.
On Corn Island, one of Nicaragua’s principal lobster producers, the Initiative held its first meeting of the intersectoral Working Group in May. The 22 members of the working group – including mayors, lobster company owners, NGOs, dive and trap lobsterman, and female entrepreneurs – all expressed a commitment to try something new to save the lobster population – and their own livelihoods.
They met for the second time in early July and added new members including divers, the Navy, and territorial government representatives. The diverse group expanded the list of issues and named additional players with a stake in the lobster fishery.
In the meantime, the 2009 lobster season opened haltingly and with conflict over the prices lobstermen would be paid. The local industry continued to feel the effects of the global economic downturn, with industry leaders still unable to sell thousands of pounds of frozen lobster tail from the season that had ended in March. With the uncertainty in the market, actors at every level agreed that the lobster fishery is in crisis.
The Whole System in the Room (WSR) event occurred September 23-25 at Hotel Selva Negra, near Matagalpa, Nicaragua with 63 participants. The theme for the workshop was “Strategies for the Sustainability and Profitability of the Spiny Lobster on the Caribbean Coast.”
Participants came with enthusiasm and hope for positive change in a fishery in crisis. Together, they traced their shared history, identified current trends and imagined a future toward which they would be willing to work together. Participants expressed pride in their ability to join forces to name common ground:
During the final day, stakeholder groups developed action plans, some more concrete than others. Several discussions were held about how to address the upcoming ban on commercial diving, especially with respect to how the divers will make a living. Several participants noted the need for a meeting, within the next few weeks, to bring together some of the high-level decision makers from government and industry to begin developing a plan. Additionally, participants suggested holding a series of follow-up workshops in Puerto Cabezas, Corn Island and Bluefields in order to engage a broader circle of people to “sign on” to the common ground principles and to develop concrete action plans at the local level.
Due to the apparent lack of energy and movement towards collaboration in the regional meetings in Nicaragua, G-FISH assessed the programs viability going forward. Based on progress to date and funding levels, AED decided to proceed with the transition from applying SCALE at the country-level to a Nicaragua/Honduras system level and use the more limited funding to leverage technical assistance, networking, information flow and communication at the ecosystem level. The Alliance hopes individuals will continue to work towards their commitments to ensure the sustainability of the spiny lobster fishery.
Nicaragua
Meetings
AYUDA DE MEMORIA - Reunion Grupo Trabajo, Mayo 30 2009 - Nicaragua 
AYUDA DE MEMORIA - Reunion Grupo Trabajo, Julio 4 2009 - Nicaragua
Whole-System-in-the-Room Workshop
AYUDA DE MEMORIA - WSR Septiembre 23-25 2009 - Nicaragua
MINUTES - WSR September 23-25 2009 - Nicaragua (English)
Newsletters
BOLETIN Enero 2010 - Nicaragua