Fisheries fellow Salvador Rodriguez Van Dyck describes his work in the small village of Agua Verde in Baja California Sur.
Seven months have passed since the beginning of the Fisheries Fellows program, and we’ve already spent three months in our communities, working on our site assessment and project plans. I’m working in Agua Verde in Baja California Sur, an isolated community in the peninsula, with no electricity and no water pipeline system. The people over here, instead, use solar cells and a spring for water. Around 250 people are living here (plus me), and their incomes depend mostly from the fish but also from the livestock.
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Salvador Rodriguez Van Dyck, left, with fishermen.
This combination of people who work in the sea and in the field with farm animals, just a few meters from the coastline, makes this place unique. It is so tuned with the combination of the desert and ocean of the peninsula that I just love these landscapes.
At this point, considered just the beginning, each fellow has been through different situations. The first months were dedicated to earning the confidence of the local people and trying to understand the dynamic of the community. Some of us are still working on the trust—something we need to be careful with because all we can gain in one month can disappear in one day. Anyway, we’re doing okay.
In my case, I’m working with fishermen in their legal processes, so they can be legally recognized as a cooperative by the government. And when I say “with fishermen” I mean it. I’ve gone with some of them to La Paz and Loreto for some administrative proceedings, which has been an excellent time for them to learn about this kind of procedure and a chance to let me know them better.
Before finishing, I’ll use some of Paul Butler’s words, hoping he’s okay with that. He inspired most of us, and I really want to share some of what he told us.
“The people hardly remember the second or the third one, but they will always remember the first one,” Paul said at the beginning of the program and, after five months, he’s still saying it. I’m so grateful for his words. He’s right! We (the fisheries fellows) are pioneers in this kind of job, and we’re hoping and doing our best, so the program can obtain good results. As beginners we also have great responsibilities and maybe harder work.
“Edmund Hillary didn’t know the way to the top of Everest, but he climbed it. And do you know what the best thing he did was? He left his metal gears all the way up, so the next one could climb more easily,” Paul said. And I feel that a path has already been started.
There’s a Spanish singer, Joan Manuel Serrat, who says: “Caminante no hay camino se hace camino al andar” (“Traveler, there’s no path, you make it when you walk”). Now the question is: will someone follow us?
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