Dr Ana Carolina Peralta

Dr Ana Carolina Peralta Brichtova Universidad Simón Bolívar, Venezuela Wikipage: hƩ p://www.nf-pogo-alumni.org/~Ana+Carolina+Peralta

Araya Peninsula, Venezuela: ocean services and biodiversity conservaƟ on

Venezuela is located in the northern part of South America, between 00°45’ and 15°40’N and between 59°47’and 73°22’W. The populaƟ on is around 30 million; it has been esƟ mated that 75 to 85% of the populaƟ on lives on just 20% of the country’s land mass. The principal economical income is from the oil and gas industry, but other industries such as minerals, food products and tourism are important as well (Miloslavich et al. 2003).

The terrestrial domain of Venezuela covers an area of 912,050 km ² and the mariƟ me territory covers 860,000 km ² ; the coastal zone of the Venezuelan Caribbean has approximately 3,900 km of conƟ nental coastline of which 68% fronts the Caribbean Sea and 21% the AtlanƟ c Ocean (Rodríguez-Altamiranda 1999). The remaining 12% of the Venezuelan coastline corresponds to clusters of more than 300 islands and keys with a total dry land area of about 1270 km 2 (MARNR 1979).

The Venezuelan coast provides services to the country such as commercial and fi sheries ports, sports and recreaƟ onal areas and fi shing resources. Around all the services provided by our coast liƩ le eff orts have been given to Araya Peninsula, Venezuela guarantee the ecosystem health. Owing to the great impact of human acƟ viƟ es (tourism, overexploitaƟ on of marine resources, physical alteraƟ on, oil industry, and polluƟ on) the marine ecosystems and their biodiversity are highly threatened.

Regarding ocean services provided by fi sheries acƟ viƟ es, Venezuela’s fi rst income comes from fi shing of the sardine (Sardinella aurita), which is now having problems because of climate change (regional changes in wind and seawater circulaƟ on paƩ erns). The second fi shery income is from the ark clam Arca zebra, mostly from the Eastern Upwelling Ecoregion, where stands the Araya Peninsula (see map). A large natural bed of ark clams occurs on rocky boƩ oms between 1 m and 20 m depth, near the coast of the peninsula. This bed covers an area of 70-80 km² and has been intensively exploited by local arƟ sanal fi shermen since 1940 (Lodeiros et al. 2005). The annual producƟ on varies between 15,792 and 33,986 tons, although it has reached 40,000 tons/year in the past (Mendoza 1999, Lodeiros et al. 2005). The fi shing method is not selecƟ ve and the catch is classifi ed aŌ er landing, and thus many non-targeted species are incidentally caught (by-catch) and landed (Peralta 2012). The remaining organisms lacking commercial importance such as sea stars, sea urchins, sponges, corals and the some gastropods are discarded with the ark clams shells (Peralta 2012). By-catch is widely recognized as a threat to marine biodiversity and fi sheries sustainability (Pauly et al. 2002). Furthermore, with the fi shing acƟ viƟ es, some social issues related to the fi sher’s family life and social services needs to be considered. Along the north of Araya Peninsula are around 7 fi shing Adults and children working on ark clams landing villages and only few of them have schools. The transporta relaƟ vely diffi cult and very poor services are accessible for the community. In many cases chilƟ on from the villages to the school is dren have to help their parents to do fi shing-related tasks.

Under this scenario, I have tried to share the scienƟfi c knowledge with the fi shing community in an informal way. I have tried to introduce children and adults from these communiƟ es to the work of marine biologists. We had a nice exchange of informaƟ on, I learned a lot about fi shing and they were very enthusiasƟ c and curious about science! One of my biggest challenges is to create educaƟ onal programs that introduce village residents to marine science. These programs would aim to highlight the importance of the ecosystem services and get people more involved in environmental protecƟ on. LiƩ le eff ort has been made by the government and universiƟ es to address the fi shery situaƟ on in Araya Peninsula. It is imperaƟ ve to conduct a large scale campaign that will deliver informaƟ on to the local populaƟ on. It will build the sense of belonging, creaƟ ng acceptance Environmental educaƟ on that we are part of the environment. acƟ viƟ es in Araya Peninsula

For the list of references, please contact the author in anaperalta@gmail.com