SOCIAL WELLBEING OF FISHING COMMUNITIES
Fisheries sustainability starts on land: with the families and communities who live from it.
The wellbeing of fishing communities is not a topic parallel to sustainability — it is its foundation. At ICPMX, we treat it as a priority: we work hand in hand with communities to strengthen their organization, expand their access to basic services, and build solutions from within. Environmental sustainability is impossible if the people who depend on the sea do not have their basic needs met.
Objective
To promote actions that contribute to improving the quality of life of fishing communities, strengthening their organizational capabilities and their active participation in building solutions to their priority needs.
Work Plan
This document establishes the results that the Social Wellbeing Group aims to achieve by 2030 and the concrete actions to accomplish them in the 2024–2027 period. It reflects the agreements of the membership and is the operational guide that shapes the group's work each year.
Lines of Work
1. Organized Fishing Communities
To promote actions that contribute to improving the quality of life of fishing communities, strengthening their organizational capabilities and their active participation in building solutions to their priority needs.
Green Water, Baja California Sur
"When a community decides to organize itself to take care of its own health"
Since 2024, a community group in Agua Verde has been working to improve access to healthcare in the community. With the support of allied organizations and the ICPMX network, a work plan was developed that includes building capacities to handle emergencies, channel cases to the appropriate institutions, and facilitate the transfer of people to receive medical attention in Loreto.
El Cuyo, Yucatán
"A community that became its own agent of change"
In the fishing community of El Cuyo, located within the Río Lagartos Biosphere Reserve, a Community Committee has been working since 2023 to represent the community's priorities and promote solutions on issues such as access to electricity, street naming, and land-use planning. ICPMX and its allied organizations support this process to strengthen community organization and social wellbeing from within.
2. Strengthening Fishing Cooperatives and Organizations
Fishing cooperatives are key players for the wellbeing of their communities. From ICPMX, we drive collaborative efforts to strengthen their administrative, organizational, and conflict-resolution capacities, as well as the incorporation of gender-based approaches and climate change adaptation.
HOW ICPMX WORKS IN THIS GROUP
The work starts from the voice, knowledge, and leadership of the communities themselves. ICPMX coordinates efforts among the network's organizations to support community processes that promote organization, capacity building, resilience, and social wellbeing in fishing communities.