The Project

The project “Slow Fish Caribbean: consolidating models of conservation and sustainable consumption in areas of interest to Slow Food” promotes the conservation of the biodiversity of Caribbean coastal ecosystems and coral reefs, consolidating good practices for the sustainable use of food resources in protected areas.

Although it includes communities across the Caribbean, the project focuses mainly on three biosphere reserves: the Sian Ka’an and Banco Chichorro biosphere reserves on Mexico’s Quintana Roo coast and the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve in the San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina Archipelago.

The project is directed to artisan fisherfolk and processors of the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve on the islands of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina (Colombia), the fishing cooperatives of the Biosphere Reserves of Sian Kaan (SK) and Banco Chinchorro in Mexico and other fishing and marine resource gathering communities in various Caribbean countries. Three main objectives are being pursued by the project activities:

• Promotion of traditional knowledge and consolidation of technical and administrative expertise of benefiting communities inside and outside protected areas in Colombia and Mexico in order to improve the management and use of natural marine and coastal resources and diversify the communities’ productive activities, hence to reduce the extraction of resources.
• Increase of the economic and social wellbeing of local communities and their commitment to conservation, and promotion of sustainable management of marine and coastal zones through the sustainable use of local food resources as the driving force of local development with a cultural identity.
• Increase of the access to the knowledge, experiences and results of different models of intervention in protected areas, spreading best practices in the Caribbean region, beginning with Slow Food’s Slow Fish Caribbean network.