The women of the fishing communities have always been present, in one way or another, in the production chain of the fishingHowever, their contribution has not always been recognized, and they want to change that. The Guardians of the Conchalitoin La PazBaja California Sur.

With the support of the NOS Sustainable Northwest, The Guardians of the Conchalito are promoting a project of oyster farmingthrough which they want to provide a economic alternative to its neighborhood of El Manglito and demonstrate their potential in this activity, while at the same time taking pressure off the fishing effort of ax callus.

Who are Las Guardianas del Conchalito?

Silvia Ramirez (part of the NOS team) explains that The Guardians of the Conchalito is a group of 12 women who belong to the Fishermen's Organization Rescuing the Inlet (OPRE).

They have taken the initiative to generate restoration actions in mangrove areas, but they also see the need to look for alternatives to improve their community's economy.

"The project has Sol Azul as important partners and the support of important foundations such as Builders, iAlumbra, Coppel", among others, says the NOS coordinator.

The year 2023 was to develop the idea of the business model so that the women participants could build capacity and learn how to make a business plan and how to organize themselves.

"Now the project is about to begin and they will receive their seeds very soon, at the beginning of February, and for that they have had to prepare themselves, prepare all the material, the cultivation gear."

They want to have visibility

The Guardians of the Conchalito express that as women were not recognized as an important part of the fishing activity carried out by their husbands. "They say that they were not visible, that their role was not seen, even though they have always been women of the sea, because although they do not go fishing, they have helped to process the products, to sell them, to help their husbands to carry out their activity, so this is an opportunity for them, which motivates them a lot and gives them a very different exposure and of which they feel very proud", she emphasizes.

That motivation, he says, is driving them to train and strive to learn how to run a business.

They will start with 150 thousand oysters.

Blue Sun is a very important and recognized oyster farming company because it is a leader in the sustainable oyster production in Baja California.

This firm is supporting The Guardians of the Conchalito with 150,000 oysters for the start of the project.

"The advantage they have is that they will obtain from Sol Azul an oyster that is already a little bit grown, so that shortens the fattening time a little bit, so it is expected that between 6 to 8 months they can start to have a product for sale and, from there, the idea is that little by little they will have a higher production, as they have more experience and optimize their processes," says Ramirez Luna.

For the first crop, the expectation is to achieve a survival rate of 74% of oysters, to harvest more than 8,300 dozens of oysters that will be sold as they reach the optimum size.

In the first instance, the Las Guardianas project does not target a wholesale market niche, because the expected production level is relatively low.

"Right now what they are looking at is the possibility of starting to establish contacts at a local level, basically. The project expects that at least in the third year they can start receiving at least 600 thousand oysters and be able to have more than 300 thousand animals, so the issue is that this part of the market has to be explored", he emphasizes.

Targeting the local market

The niche for this project has to be the market that is between hotels, restaurants, local supermarkets, direct consumers and tourism, because the idea is to be able to take tourists to the site where the oysters are cultivated and to taste them directly in the area.

And while a group of Las Guardianas are taking workshops, diploma courses and training courses with various organizations, other members are making progress in the preparation of the fishing gear, in order to receive the 150 thousand oysters at the beginning of February. "They are ready", and the NOS team has accompanied them from the beginning in this dream that they are about to turn into reality.

Project selected for Hatch Blue's Women in Ocean Food program

For two weeks, The Guardians of the Conchalito participated with their oyster cultivation project in the Women in Ocean FoodThe third edition of the event was held in La Paz.

This program focuses on women entrepreneurs and diverse leadership teams, which aims to develop successful and innovative seafood enterprises to build a sustainable ocean economy.

"It is a program that selected 13 projects in Latin America that were led by women and had to do with how they benefit or contribute to the production of seafood for the issue of sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals," explains Silvia Ramírez.

Among these 13 projects, the The Guardians of the Conchalito was selected, in the first place, for its monitoring and support of Hatch Blue.

"It implies that the Hatch association will be supporting them and following up on their business project, bringing them closer to adequate financing for the conditions of their project, and will give them training courses on different topics that will help them to make their business profitable," celebrates Ramirez Luna.

Hatch Blue is a startup accelerator specializing in aquaculture and alternative seafood products, which raises venture funds from pre-seed to growth stage.

It has a specialized aquaculture consulting unit, unique innovation programs worldwide for aquaculture and alternative seafood entrepreneurs, as well as a media production and publishing company specializing in aquaculture marketing and storytelling.