00:01Here you are not a employee of anyone, they don't humiliate you, they don't talk bad.
00:07You work for yourself, you earn your money and you have money every day.
00:11There are many people who come here who are poor, who don't have resources,
00:16they don't have an education to work somewhere.
00:19They make it a little difficult to work and they can take their money from there.
00:26My name is Maria Ester, I have 31 years old.
00:29I'm a nurse, but I'm more in the P.C. of Languilla than working in a clinic.
00:49We are in Nahua, a small town in the north of the Dominican Republic,
00:55at three hours of Santo Domingo, the capital.
00:58Here, when the season comes to the end of the year,
01:01the population transforms their lives
01:03around an almost unknown activity for the rest of the world
01:07and even for many inhabitants of this area.
01:11The Anguilla Pesca.
01:16Here, we are.
01:44We are in the place where we live from.
01:49We are here, as they say, of the fishing.
01:51In the Uvalde area of Nahuatl,
01:54we all come to fishing at the edge of the beach
01:56because, at least now,
01:58this is a source of work for everyone.
02:02Here they come, they come to fishing,
02:05young, young, old.
02:11I fishing,
02:13since I was 16 years old,
02:15because I saw people who were fishing
02:17and I said,
02:18well, let me go to Pekaya,
02:20because I know the anguillas,
02:21because I came and saw them in the pot,
02:25but I didn't believe that they were the anguillas,
02:27and I came to Pekaya to see how it was.
02:29In the last decades,
02:31the consumption of anguillas has increased around the world.
02:34The sushi, unagi,
02:35and other dishes that were before only in Asia
02:38today have gained popularity
02:40and are delicious in large part of the planet.
02:43This has put a huge pressure
02:44in the populations of various species.
02:47In 2016,
02:49there were more than 290.000 tons of anguillas
02:52for human consumption.
02:53Most of the population
02:54had asiatics
02:57like Japan,
02:59China,
02:59Korea and Hong Kong,
03:01and a good part came from America.
03:03When we started the boom
03:06for the anguillas
03:07and all this culinary story,
03:09let's say,
03:10everything started with the anguillas
03:11japonics,
03:12which is the anguillas of Japan,
03:14and the pressure
03:16was super high in the larvae,
03:18in the boats of the river,
03:19which led to the population
03:21to collapse really.
03:24And from there,
03:25the tension
03:26and the effort of fishing
03:29to the anguillas of Europe
03:30to the anguillas of Europe,
03:32which is the anguillas of anguillas.
03:35From 1990,
03:37Europe began to export
03:38hundreds of tons of anguillas
03:39to Asia
03:40and the history
03:41repeated.
03:54The anguillas of anguillas
03:55are reduced by 98%
03:58and in 2009,
04:00the species
04:01included in the 2nd of the CITES
04:03a convention
04:04that regulates
04:05the international commerce
04:06of species
04:06from the United States.
04:07Since 2010,
04:09the European Union
04:09the anguillas of anguillas
04:10prohibited all the commerce
04:11of this species,
04:12which was declared
04:12in critical danger
04:13of extinction.
04:15The escasez of anguillas
04:16in Japan and Europe
04:17and the restrictions
04:18imposed on the trade
04:20led to the demand
04:21market asiatic
04:22to focus on the Americas
04:24and the Caribbean,
04:25where he found
04:25the new
04:26great dispensary
04:27of anguillas
04:28for their consumption.
04:35The pressure
04:36now is moving
04:37to the Americas
04:38to the anguilla
04:39rostrata
04:40or the anguilla americana.
04:41We've seen
04:42what's going to happen.
04:43We can predict the future
04:44quite easily.
04:45If you look at the example
04:46of Japan,
04:47the example of Europe
04:48and the example of America,
04:51if you don't take
04:52the necessary measures,
04:53we'll see
04:53a animal
04:54in critical danger
04:55in the future.
05:00The problem
05:01is much more complex
05:02than that.
05:03Behind the
05:04anguillas production
05:05has a business
05:06that moves thousands
05:07of millions
05:07of dollars
05:08and that
05:09transits
05:09between legalism
05:10and illegalism.
05:12the
05:12country.
05:12and the
05:28river
05:32the
05:34But in this
05:35business,
05:35there are also
05:36thousands of people
05:37who find
05:38in this fishing
05:39their only
05:40alternative
05:41economic alternative,
05:41like the
05:42population
05:42of Nauqua.
05:48the
05:48people
05:49are
05:49here.
05:50because if
05:51there were jobs
05:52we would have
05:52here.
05:53We would have
05:54fought.
06:01Well,
06:03I started
06:03in 2019
06:04because of
06:05a crisis
06:06and lack
06:07of economy.
06:08So,
06:09when you don't
06:11want to do
06:12the first thing
06:13comes,
06:13when you work,
06:15if you work,
06:16you have to work.
06:17So,
06:18the reason
06:18was that,
06:19that we are
06:19poor,
06:20but we are living
06:22and not doing
06:23the bad things,
06:24we are working.
06:25This fishery,
06:27a difference
06:27of the traditional fishing,
06:29reúne families
06:30complete.
06:31In it,
06:32there are also
06:33women and young women.
06:36There are
06:37few sources
06:38for women
06:40who can work
06:41come to
06:46the
06:46people
06:46who
06:46come to
06:47the
06:47who
06:47come to
06:47the
06:47people.
06:50who
06:51come to
06:52the
06:54people
06:57who
06:58come to
06:59the
06:59people
07:00who
07:00come to
07:01the
07:02people
07:10who
07:11come to
07:12the
07:13people
07:38who
07:39come to
07:40the
07:42who
07:42come to
07:43the
07:46people
07:51who
07:52come to
07:56the
07:56people
07:57who
07:57come to
08:11the
08:11people
08:12who
08:12come to
08:13the
08:13people
08:13who
08:13come to
08:13people
08:14who
08:14come to
08:24the
08:25of
08:25the
08:26who
08:27come to
08:28the
08:29people
08:29come to
08:31the
08:32sea
08:38as
08:39as
08:40as
08:40very complex. They will be between 16 and 30 years old, and only after that time, they will be
08:47matured. They will become grises that will migrate again for months and years to the
08:53Mar de los Sargazos to reproduce and they will die after the desove. That's the great value they have.
09:08One gram, which is complete by fishing only 7 anguilas, can cost up to 250 pesos
09:14dominicanos, that's to say, more than 4 dollars.
09:17Do you think I was born now?
09:21Two years ago I worked here, and the group gave us more than $2,000,000 per night, because
09:29there was a number and it was about 200 and a half. Imagine a 200. 1 kg, which is 2
09:35pounds
09:35and a half of anguilas, that's about 250,000 pesos. You understand? And this river gives you
09:4210, 16, even 20. It has already diminished a little, but that's the time, you understand?
09:46Two years ago it was like this.
09:56The monedas of alcohol have to weigh 8 grams. 8 grams. What they go from, what they go from
10:05the language is 1 and 1 gram. There is 12 gram, or 11 gram. There are 3 gram, but
10:16We don't use anguilas because the 8 are of the money that we put.
10:18That is to confirm that the weight is good,
10:20the money is always good.
10:21The money of 10 is 8 grams.
10:24There is approximately 110 grams,
10:29more or less.
10:33The amount of money that moves,
10:35the hours of fishing,
10:36the amount of people that come to the river
10:38and the same dynamic of anguilas
10:41make it a dangerous process
10:43and very difficult to regulate.
10:46They are here because they are looking for their food.
10:48They are playing with us.
10:50They are playing with us.
10:51For example,
10:52when you go to the whole night
10:53you go to the beach matando,
10:55aguantando olas,
10:56golpes, bacteria,
10:57because you know that we face bacteria
10:59and everything.
11:00We are in the beach
11:01but the other day
11:02when we come to the house
11:02we are baratados.
11:06What happens after the pescadores
11:08sell the anguilas?
11:12We don't know about that.
11:13We don't know about that.
11:15Some are given to the buyers
11:17with license,
11:18but others are going to the Negro Mercado.
11:21So they say that
11:22it's a business
11:23like drugs.
11:24Well, it's a decision
11:27to us,
11:27it seems to us.
11:28It's a sense.
11:29Of course.
11:29Because a kilo of anguilas
11:31we don't know
11:32how much it costs.
11:33We sell the anguilas
11:35and when it comes to the market
11:37there is a lot of money
11:39that comes from the anguilas.
11:41We don't know where it comes from.
11:44I don't know
11:44of that.
11:45I can't even go to the truck
11:47where it comes to the anguilas.
11:48I can't go to the gas
11:49where it comes to the anguilas.
11:49where it comes to the anguilas.
11:50How it plays,
11:51how it gets,
11:52how it makes it work.
11:53I don't know about it.
11:55We don't know anything.
11:56It's the destiny of it.
12:05It has developed a whole industry that, unfortunately, is not 100% clear or clean.
12:13It is also a lot of what is the black market, which is one of the main problems we have
12:19and which we are focused on attacking.
12:21It is hard to say it, it has its risk.
12:26The hunter, the buyer, we all have a risk here.
12:32Because we can attack the buyer,
12:35as if we have a success within the water,
12:39that sometimes appears in the manta ray,
12:41or anything else that can hurt us,
12:46but everything has its risk here.
12:48For example, last year we had a loss that was very lamentable
12:51from a friend of pesca.
12:53They killed us in the Yaya.
12:59Even though it is a practice that has been done for years,
13:02the authorities of the Dominican Republic
13:04still don't know how many anguilas extraen,
13:07night to night,
13:08of the 86 rivers in which there are licenses for fishing,
13:11or how much they are affecting the populations of this species.
13:15Although they have established a quota of fishing,
13:18which until the last year was of 2.500 kilos,
13:20according to the Direction General of the Aduanas,
13:22this number has been exceeded many times.
13:25Only in 2019,
13:27they exported about 2.849 kilos.
13:30To make an idea,
13:32in each kilo,
13:33there are about 6.000 anguilas babies.
13:35I would say that it is known very well.
13:38Here,
13:39the little thing is known,
13:42and it is because there has not been done a biological study
13:45of the species.
13:46If we don't look at the data
13:49that exportables
13:51the Direction General of the Aduanas
13:52of the Republic of the Dominican Republic,
13:54we find that in the last five years,
13:57that the quotas of the country were 2.500,
13:592.500,
14:002.500 annuals,
14:01they exported,
14:02according to the numbers of the Aduanas,
14:044.000,
14:055.000,
14:05up to 7.000 kilos.
14:07So,
14:08how is it possible
14:08that if we, as an institution,
14:10we have a quota
14:11that must be regulated,
14:13that must be regulated,
14:14that must be respected,
14:15we accept that they export
14:17two, three,
14:18four times more
14:18of the quota of the country.
14:23The quantity has diminished,
14:25because it is obvious,
14:27because all the years
14:29they take thousands of kilos
14:31to the production of that.
14:33For example,
14:33the temperature that happened
14:34was not good.
14:36This may be the case,
14:38that it may come better,
14:39but it does not influence
14:40that there is no decrease,
14:41because all the years
14:43we take thousands of kilos
14:45between the rivers
14:46and the rivers.
14:47And as they did not feed them,
14:49you understand,
14:49that they have traveled
14:50all the years.
14:52It is clear that
14:52the anguilas
14:53that one takes all the years,
14:54all the years,
14:54if they did not take it,
14:55they would be reproduced more.
14:59There must be
15:00an agreement
15:02between the two parts,
15:03both the conservationists
15:04and the fisheries.
15:08How to combine
15:09the two ways,
15:10like the conservation,
15:11the social part
15:12and try to mix them
15:16and show them
15:16that the solution
15:17is in the management
15:18of the fisheries
15:20and the fisheries
15:20to make sure
15:21the fisheries
15:22in order to abolish
15:24the fisheries
15:24because social
15:26that would have
15:27had a very high impact.
15:30The international alerts
15:32warn that the
15:33population of
15:34anguilarrostrata
15:34or anguilarrostrata
15:36is already at
15:37historically low levels.
15:39Although it was declared
15:40in danger
15:41of extinction,
15:42until now
15:42it is not protected
15:43by any
15:44treaty
15:44or convenio
15:45global.
15:47.
15:48on the other
15:50people
15:50to be able
15:51to access
15:54as
15:55as
15:56as
16:08as
16:10as
16:11as
16:11as
Comentarios