¿Del mar quién es dueño?: Artisanal Fisheries, Tourism Development and the Struggles over Access to Marine Resources in Gigante, Nicaragua

Since the mid-1990s Nicaragua has turned to the undeveloped beaches of the Pacific to generate much-needed foreign exchange. This region, though, was not uninhabited. Indeed, hundreds of fishing families relied on the fecundity of the ocean to feed their families and to sell fish for international consumption. The growth of tourism brings threats to this form of living. Specifically, a Marine Protected Area (MPA), promulgated by large tourism operations may exclude fishermen from their most fertile fishing waters. This paper provides details about current use of the ocean by local fishermen and how that will be impacted by the implementation of the MPA.