{"id":11,"date":"2014-03-08T20:25:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-08T20:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.pasopacifico.org\/2014\/03\/a-womens-cooperative-oyster-farm\/"},"modified":"2024-02-28T07:29:53","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T13:29:53","slug":"a-womens-cooperative-oyster-farm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/a-womens-cooperative-oyster-farm\/","title":{"rendered":"A Women’s Cooperative Oyster Farm"},"content":{"rendered":"
In 2013 Paso Pacifico made a commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative to strengthen economic development and restore coastal environments. To achieve this goal, Paso Pacifico has begun a partnership with local women in the fishing village of Ostional in order to develop a women\u2019s shellfish farming cooperative.\u00a0 This past month Paso Pacifico volunteer Angie Gerst from British Columbia, Canada, conducted an exploratory study to document the current economic and cultural systems surrounding oyster cultivation. Her study was funded by the Inter-American Development Bank\u2019s Multilateral Investment Fund. The goal of Angie\u2019s research was to determine the importance of oysters to household economies, the level of interest women in the community have in regards to participating in a sustainable oyster farm, and to assess the potential sale of oysters to local markets.\u00a0 Her results indicate a strong potential for the development of a women’s oyster cooperative.<\/div>\n
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The women of Ostional have been harvesting oysters for most of their lives and have learned these practices from their mothers, grandmothers, and other members of their community.\u00a0 All of the women Angie interviewed have a similar method for harvesting these hearty shellfish.\u00a0 First they use a hammer, or heavier iron \u201cmasa\u201d, to hit the oyster shell on the opening end until they are able to pry the shell open. They then use a spoon to scoop out the oyster and leave the other half of the shell attached to the rock until it naturally falls off.\u00a0 The women harvest oysters several times a week and collect between .5 and 7 pounds of oysters on each outing.<\/div>\n
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Most of the women Angie interviewed reported that the harvesting of oysters damaged the beds and that some members of the community harvest too many oysters or ones that are too small.\u00a0 All of the women, however, indicated a strong interest in working to preserve the resource for future generations, in turn providing future jobs and income for the community.\u00a0 The women interviewed were also asked what actions could be taken to protect and restore the oyster beds near the community.\u00a0 They suggested implementing regulations to protect smaller oysters from being harvested, using different harvesting methods, and developing an oyster farm or nursery.<\/div>\n
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Based on Angie\u2019s findings, there is evidence to support the development of a women\u2019s oyster cooperative in Ostional.\u00a0 This type of project would be new territory for Paso Pacifico requiring small business development, skills training in shellfish production, evaluation of market demands, and a detailed evaluation of the project\u2019s ecological sustainability.\u00a0 We are excited about this project\u2019s potential.\u00a0 Small-scale fisheries are vital for feeding local families throughout Central America and, if managed properly can also help restore the region\u2019s coastal fisheries.\u00a0 Women are often overlooked for their role within these fisheries, and generally do not have access to technical training to sustainably manage these resources.\u00a0 It is fitting that women lead this transition to sustainability in fisheries, and that they and their families reap the economic benefits that shellfish production can bring.\u00a0 As one of Angie\u2019s interviews revealed, the development of a women\u2019s cooperative oyster farm in Ostional, \u201cwould be a dream come true!\u201d.<\/div>\n
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Photo credit: Angie Gerst<\/div>\n
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Paso Pacifico volunteer Angie Gerst spent a month visiting and interviewing the women of Ostional, Nicaragua.<\/div>\n
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\u00a0Women in Nicaragua are traditionally the primary cultivators of oysters along mangrove estuaries and rocky shores.<\/div>\n
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All of the women Angie interviewed expressed an interest in restoring oyster habitat for future generations.<\/div>\n
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A women’s oyster cooperative in Ostional could be a tremendous economic benefit for the community and would help to restore the region\u2019s coastal fisheries.<\/div>\n
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Many of the women in this community have been harvesting shellfish their entire lives and learned these practices from their mothers and grandmothers.<\/div>\n
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The preferred technique to harvest oysters in this community is to use a hammer, or heavier iron \u201cmasa\u201d, to hit the oyster shell until they are able to pry the shell open.<\/div>\n
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Paso Pacifico is committed to develop a women\u2019s shellfish farming cooperative.<\/div>\n
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The rocky coastline of Nicaragua’s southern Pacific coast makes for ideal oyster habitat, like the beach pictured here.<\/div>\n
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For many Ostional women, harvesting oysters is a tradition that has been passed down through the generations.<\/div>\n
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The rocky Nicaraguan coastline is not the easiest place to navigate and harvesting oysters in this environment is challenging work.<\/div>\n
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Small-scale fisheries are vital for feeding local families throughout the world and, if sustainably managed, can also help to restore our world\u2019s coastal fisheries.<\/div>\n
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\u00a0Currently, women do not receive any recognition for their role in\u00a0coastal fisheries and their contribution to the social and economic well-being of fishing communities is often overlooked.<\/div>\n
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Women in Ostional average collect between .5 and 7 pounds of oysters on each outing.<\/div>\n
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In 2013 Paso Pacifico made a commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative to strengthen economic development and restore coastal environments. To achieve this goal, Paso Pacifico has begun a partnership with local women in the fishing village of Ostional in order to develop a women\u2019s shellfish farming cooperative.\u00a0 This past month Paso Pacifico volunteer Angie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[216,214],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-conservation-initiatives","8":"category-technology-innovation","9":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5896,"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions\/5896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}