The Great California Oyster Tour

I recently had the pleasure of spending a week in the company of Angelica and Antonia, who are from our Women’s Oyster Cooperative in Ostional, Nicaragua. I also met Yorlin Vargas, a Paso Pacifico ranger who works a lot with the cooperative. Before I met them at Carlsbad Aquafarm, they spent time on Catalina Island and with experts at USC Wrigley Insitute, where they learned about new oyster husbandry techniques in their lab and at sea.

The Carlsbad Aquafarm experience was definitely something new to me. I had visited their farm back in Ostional, but had superficial knowledge of how these women grew their oysters. Nothing hands on so far. In Carlsbad, Angelica, Antonia and I worked according to the farm’s regular schedule, advised by Thomas Grimm. It was great to participate in all the steps from collection to delivery (farm to table). We built baskets, sorted and cleaned oysters, cleaned farming ropes and analyzed growth at the site.

I have to say, it’s no easy task. Through all the sweat and body pain I was most thankful to see the happiness in these women’s faces to learn and interact with fellow workers with such relaxed yet focused attitude. They were amazed to understand where oyster farming can lead them. They were introduced to techniques they had never before seen.

At the end of our shift, we sat with Tom and two of his assistants to chat a bit and understand what lessons could be taken to Ostional. Angelica, the leader of the cooperative, was inspired to work harder on their project and eventually create a business sustainable for the environment and their pockets.

I miss being around their positive spirit and will definitely be following up on their progress back home.

Guest post by Felipe Farme D’Amoed
Top photo by Dave Anderson

The visitors and crew at Carlsbad Aquafarm. Angelica is on the left, Felipe and Yorlin are kneeling in front, and Antonia is standing in the center.

Conservation in ACTION
Launched earlier this year, the Proyecto Tesoros de Nicaragua ( Proyecto TESÓN), a joint effort to clean up the San Juan River catchment, has already demonstrated how public-private partnerships can work to build a more pristine and sustainable Nicaragua.

There are now three Ambassadors of the Environment working around the clock to clean up garbage near the estuary and along the beach, and to monitor the volume and make up of debris. Proyecto TESÓN’s Ambassadors also lead seminars for local students on the importance of environmental stewardship, and recruit young people to participate in cleaning up local waterways….

Team member spotlight
Paso Pacifico’s executive director Sarah Otterstrom, mother of three, is a PhD ecologist who studied the effects of agricultural burning on the dry tropical forests of southern Nicaragua.

She grew up in in the woods at the edge of high desert country in eastern Washington, did her undergraduate work in Costa Rica, where she led tourism expeditions through the rainforest canopy, and completed her graduate studies at the University of California at Davis….

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Conservation in ACTION
We have recently completed the first stage of our Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Initiative, which integrates habitat mapping, native tree reforestation, and youth education. This high-impact project is made possible by those of you in the US, and the critically important US Neotropical Migratory Bird Act. We place an emphasis on the very birds which travel from your backyard in North America to the Central American Isthmus….

Paso Pacífico in the News
Nicaragua’s been in the media a lot lately with news of the presidential election, the earthquake in Rivas, and the heavy flooding which displaced thousands of people from their homes. The spotlight on these events serves as a reminder that Nicaragua’s rural poor are vulnerable to external factors….

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