In a corner of the Gulf of Californiaabout 30 kilometers from La Pazis located Las Pacasa fishing community where life revolves around the sea. It is home to don Santiago Cañedo Floresa veteran fisherman who, beyond his work, has become a custodian of his territory.

His love for this area has led him to propose the creation of a refuge for scientific and academic research, with the support of the organization NOS Sustainable Northwest. The intention is to provide space for the reproduction of marine species and preserve the ecosystems that have sustained their community for generations.

To that place they traveled Carmen Alicia Camacho y Teresita Camachomembers of the Leonor Cuadras Cuadras oyster farming cooperativethe first all-women's organization in The ReformSinaloa.

La Reforma and Las Pacas: different contexts, a similar vision

They were accompanied by the researcher Johanna PerezThe purpose of the visit was to build bridges between fishing communities, learn about don Santiago's work and share his own experiences of environmental care in the fishing industry. Santa Maria BayThe area is highly productive, but threatened by pollution.

"We are in different parts, but we have a similar vision," said Teresita Camacho. "Mr. Santiago, from Las Pacas, doesn't want them to damage the environment, he wants to help his community, just as we want to help our community and our bay."

During the meeting, Carmen Alicia shared her admiration for Don Santiago, because despite his age, he continues to fight because he loves this piece of land and sea that have been his whole life.

"He doesn't want that landscape to change for anything in the world, that nothing be done there and I understand that, because by letting them do other things, it changes everything and the landscape doesn't remain the same. He's like a protector," he said.

During the meeting, don Santiago told them that he receives groups of students and tells them his story of the sea, the do's and don'ts, and how to care for and protect the ecosystem.

Community-to-community learning

LSE researcher Johanna Perez, who has been following the work of the cooperative Leonor Cuadras Cuadras through the organization Society in Action (Sucede), considered that the most valuable aspect of this meeting was that the learning took place from community to community, without intermediaries and without speeches.

"NOS Noroeste Sustentable facilitated the arrival to the community, but the women led the meeting and it was very nice and very important for them to see directly what other communities are doing," she said. "In this space, community-to-community learning is facilitated and can be very beneficial for men's cooperatives, women's cooperatives or any level of cooperative.

Both Las Pacas and La Reforma face similar challenges, such as pollution, dredging and overfishing, so the meeting between the fisherwomen and oyster farmers with don Santiago Cañedo generated lessons learned for both parties and created a direct link between those who live from and care for the sea.

The members of the Leonor Cuadras cooperative They learned how to fish in a non-invasive way, with cages that don Santiago showed them; they also learned about the mother-of-pearl shell pearl project, how to connect their work with researchers.

While don Santiago dreams of consolidating his marine shelter in Las Pacasthe women of The Reform concrete actions to clean up and protect the Santa Maria BayThe company is committed to defending the territory, caring for the sea and ensuring a sustainable future in fishing for those who come after us.