Empowering Fishing Communities in the MAR Reef

At the meeting point of river and lake, a landscape shaped by nature, where the Polochic’s River winding waters dissolve into the vastness of Izabal, Guatemala life gathers in quiet abundance. Here, in the Bocas del Polochic Wildlife Refuge (RVSBP in Spanish), fish trace ancient migratory paths, and communities have long drawn sustenance from its rhythms.

Co-managed by Fundación Defensores de la Naturaleza, the refuge stands at a turning point. Pressures on aquatic ecosystems, overfishing, and changing environmental conditions have begun to erode the delicate balance that sustains both biodiversity and livelihoods. Yet within this challenge lies an opportunity: to restore, to protect, and to reimagine the relationship between people and the waters that sustain them.

The project “Fisheries Recovery Zone of the RVSBP: Conservation, Sustainable Management, and Community Participation” emerges as a response rooted in hope and collective action. In collaboration with the Guaritas Fishers’ Association, this project promotes the participatory establishment of a Fish Recovery Area (FRA), of at least 50 hectares, within the Refuge.

The objectives of this project are:

• To develop the technical and social foundations for the establishment and effective management of a FRA within RVSBP, through the preparation of a social and environmental assessment and the implementation of management actions aimed at the conservation and sustainable recovery of fishery resources.
• To prepare a technical document to support the request for the official designation of the FRA within the RVSBP.

This support is not merely a technical intervention, but a commitment—to safeguard breeding grounds, to revive fish populations, and to place community members at the heart of stewardship. Through shared knowledge, participatory governance, and respect for ecological limits, the project seeks to transform vulnerability into resilience.

Thank you for helping us tell the story of this effort, of a refuge reclaiming its abundance, of community members reclaiming their role as guardians, and of a future where conservation and sustainable use are not opposing forces, but threads woven into the same living fabric. We will keep you posted on how this project develops.

The MAR Fund Team