New ERA Will Support Artisanal Fishing on the Pacific Coast

A new Alternative Rural School (ERA) begins activities in the Mayorquín River basin, El Cacao village, in the municipality of Buenaventura. This region of the Colombian Pacific Coast, strongly affected by the armed conflict, provides most of the fish consumed in the country.

This will be the first ERA dedicated to maritime artisanal fishing, a traditional activity of the Afro-Colombian communities of the Pacific coast. In this community is the ASOPESARCACAO fishermen's association, which has 76 members and has welcomed 4 ex-combatants in the process of reincorporation who decided to return to their place of origin. The first participants of this ERA will be 23 members of this association, including the 4 new members in the process of reincorporation.

This ERA will train participants in good practices of open sea fishing, food handling, fish processing and cold chain. The repair of existing boats and the acquisition of their own fishing equipment will be supported, since they currently work with rented equipment. Likewise, to overcome the commercialization problems faced by artisanal fishing, the ERA will accompany this community in the establishment of commercial agreements that allow them to reduce intermediation costs through figures such as contract fishing. Work will also be done so that this community offers filleted fish to the market, since the profit margin is higher when offering a processed product.

Like the other ERAs around the country, the Buenaventura ERA is a multi-sector collaboration platform. Its allies, in addition to PASO Colombia, are the National Authority for Aquaculture and Fisheries (AUNAP) , the World Food Program (WFP), the Government of Valle del Cauca and the UN Verification Mission in Colombia .