Compra de la flota de arrastre de camarones en Colombia: beneficios económicos y medioambientales al Pacífico colombiano

The Smithsonian Institution prepared this document for the BIOREDD+ Project, Order of Work AID-514-TO-11-00002. The trawling for shrimp in Colombia's Pacific is a technique of industrial fishing where a boat drags a net along the seafloor to catch shrimp and other marine animals. Trawling is considered one of the least selective fishing methods, responsible for capturing around 5:1 of non-target species compared to target species, causing extensive habitat damage that reduces biodiversity by 50% on the seafloor, and consuming a high level of fuel, around 15 gallons of diesel per hour. There are two shrimp trawling fleets in the Colombian Pacific, one targeting shallow-water shrimp at depths of 40 meters and the other targeting deeper-water shrimp around 150 meters. Both fleets have been in decline since the late 1990s due to overfishing, increasing fuel prices, and lower market prices for the product, resulting in an over-capitalized fleet with many boats that do not leave port due to projected income not exceeding costs. In 2009, the shallow-water fleet generated a combined loss of $500,000 USD, and the fleet has continued to decline. The active fleet reduced from 40 boats in 2014 to 25 in 2015. As the shrimp trawling fleet struggles economically to survive, captains are vulnerable to making poor decisions regarding fishing practices, extending their fishing area or increasing the size of their fishing gear to increase fishing effort. These changes affect coastal communities. Trawling boats invade nearby coastal waters, where small-scale artisanal fishermen operate, and use their gear to catch fish instead of shrimp. These activities affect local small-scale fishing catches and impact the economic sustenance and food security of coastal communities. There is currently an opportunity to resolve the economic problems of the shrimp trawling fleet, provide measurable protection to marine biodiversity, and remove the spatial conflict between industrial and artisanal fishermen in the Colombian Pacific. To buy out the shrimp trawling fleet, external financing is needed through a combination of philanthropic and innovative financial mechanisms. The total value of the remaining 25 shrimp trawling boats is estimated at around $5 million. This money can be raised from philanthropic donors interested in generating large positive impacts on marine biodiversity by eliminating bottom trawling. The acquisition of the shrimp trawling fleet was indeed funded by philanthropic sources in Belize in 2009. Government funds can also be used to support this initiative by transferring the current diesel subsidy of 1,500 Colombian pesos per gallon ($0.65 USD) to the acquisition of the fleet, generating $500,000 per year based on the estimated fuel usage of the existing fleet. To make this solution work with the shrimp trawling industry in the Colombian Pacific, a combination of philanthropic interest, technical expertise, and government support is needed. Further information on the background of this idea and the path forward is detailed in this document. Trawling for shrimp uses around 15 gallons of diesel an hour, and the discarded biomass is consumed by opportunistic marine birds such as gulls. The impact of trawling on the life of the seafloor has been likened to clear-cutting of forests. The trawling fishery creates environmental impacts through habitat disturbance caused by the dragging of the trawl on the seafloor during the fishing action. This is similar to the impact of deforestation (Watling and Norse 1998) and the associated interruption of ecological processes (Thrush and Dayton 2002). Trawling severely damages the structure, composition, and function of the marine environment. The nets remove shrimp, fish, and other species of animals and plants, and the fishing gear breaks, crushes, and buries marine communities and the structures of the seafloor habitat. Repeated trawling in the same areas several times a year means that animals and plants do not have enough time to recover (Watling and Norse 1998). The destruction of the seafloor ecosystem reduces the productivity of the area for the shrimp fishery and affects critical habitats for other commercially and ecologically important marine and coastal species. The trawling leaves the seafloor flattened, homogenizing the texture and topography that are important as a source of refuge for organisms living on the seafloor. If these structures and habitats are removed, the availability of refuges for plants and animals can be reduced, decreasing the successful settlement of juveniles and exposing them to greater risk of predation as they grow. The impact of trawling on the life of the seafloor has been likened to clear-cutting of forests. The structures of the sediment on the seafloor