A photo of Santa Rosa de Aguán’s coastline – credit, Rare

On the Caribbean coast of Honduras, artisanal fishermen are celebrating the creation of a marine protected area to be managed in collaboration with their communities

The 112 square-mile zone includes coastal mangroves, pristine beaches, and tropical rainforest, and effectively quadruples the amount of ocean the fishermen have access to.

Overseen by the Forest Conservation Institute of Honduras, the Santa Rosa de Aguán Site of Importance for Wildlife will be the fourth such community-managed fishing area in the Colón Department.

Home to a large population of Indigenous Garifuna speakers, Santa Rosa de Aguán has been a struggling part of a struggling country. With over half the population of the nation living in extreme poverty according to the statistics institute of Honduras, these fishing communities are able to use their traditional fishing methods to flourish generation after generation on the bounty of the sea.

Signed on May 28th before members of communities from Colón and the neighboring Cortés and Atlántida departments, the declaration was a vibrant scene where multiple generations of fishermen shared their experiences and hope for the future.

“This declaration is a commitment to the well-being of our people,” said the Mayor of Santa Rosa de Aguán, Heber Flores. “By protecting the resources that sustain us—fishing and agriculture—we’re securing a future of dignity, resilience, and opportunity for our communities.”

The ecological-focused nonprofit Rare worked with communities and the government in crafting the management plan for the site, which will see 100% of mangrove swamps protected, and 12 nautical miles of coastline and open sea reserved exclusively for small-scale fishing and conservation.

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Through its Fish Forever initiative, Rare has helped create roughly 28,000 square miles of community-managed fisheries in 2,000 towns and cities around the world.

The management plan in Santa Rosa de Aguán will involve surveilling and patrolling coastal waters against intrusions, using sustainable fishing gear, and ensuring the continuity and connectivity of shoreline ecosystems with the open sea.

WATCH the day these fishermen secured their long-term future…

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