Fisheries and Marine Conservation in the Dominican Republic

Challenge

High unemployment and underemployment are serious challenges in the Dominican Republic. Efforts to promote agricultural livelihoods in the 1980s led to the destruction of the nation’s mangrove forests, coral reefs and other natural resources. Today, mangroves continue to be cut down to create space for salt pans to grow and harvest shrimp. Coupled with the effects of climate change, the Dominican Republic’s marine resources are at great risk while local communities are still in need of more stable, sustainable and environmentally-responsible livelihoods.

Promise

Counterpart has been working in partnership with local organizations to promote natural resource management and enhance economic well-being in the Montecristi National Park since 2004. In our current program, Fisheries and Marine Conservation in Montecristi National Park, we draw upon previous experience to promote responsible fishing practices and help local communities produce a co-owned management plan to protect the park’s marine areas. The project will help fishing families become more economically stable while also conserving their local ecosystems.

Impact

The expansion of our 10-year partnership with local communities will help to:

• improve the livelihoods of 1,700 fishing families;
• train 300 men and women to use responsible fishing methods;
• teach six communities how to monitor the health of ecosystems;
• build networks between five fishing associations and buyers to improve local value chains;
• increase the monitoring of fisheries and help the Park improve enforcement policies to protect against over-fishing;
• monitor land activities that may affect the health of the marine ecosystem.

Sustainable Development Goals Addressed

Partners

Funder: The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Collaborators: Asociación de Productores Agropecuarios de la Frontera, Inc. (AgroFrontera); Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).