Emma Elizabeth Marquez is the recipient of the Miss-Scuba.com Dive Training Grant sponsored by WDHOF Member Szilvia Gogh

 

Barrio El Manglito is a historic dive fishing community located within the city limits of La Paz, Baja California Sur (BCS), Mexico. As one of the oldest communities in La Paz, it’s residents have dedicated themselves to dive fishing since their arrival in the early 1900’s until today.

 

Over the last 100 years, divers in this community have worked as free diving pearl divers, science divers for the national research institution (INAPESCA) and universities (UABCS, CICIMAR, CIBNOR), commercial fishing divers for bivalves and fish using hookah, and currently as stewards of their local fishing grounds as they work to rebuild the population of 12 different species of bivalves within their newly granted concession. This group of fishermen and women working to rebuild their fishing grounds is known as The Organization of Fishermen Rescuing the Ensenada (OPRE).

 

 

Top left clockwise: Science diver Guillermo Mendez diving; Guillermo Mendez measuring a sample in the lab; Emma Marquez processing Catarina scallops; Javi Mendez preparing to do a stock assessment for pen shell scallops; the Beltran brothers preparing to leave to do a stock assessment; Irving Mendez scoping out an evaluation site.

 

Historically, women participated in the fishery but they had never formally worked as divers. In 2018, Ruth Aracely Mendez Marquez heard about a group of women divers in Ligui, BCS, who work as commercial divers and she realized her dream could truly become a reality.

 

She said, “I don’t know how I’m gonna do it, but I’m going to learn to dive!” She began knocking on doors for support; Amigos Marinos agreed to organize and coordinate the course, COBI volunteered their PADI instructors, PADI Ambassador Afelandra Gonzalez donated her time, NOS volunteered their space for the classroom portion of the course, local fisherman-owned tourism businesses lent us boats and provided us a discounted rate on equipment and tank rentals, and two fishermen assisted as boat captains.

 

The course was supported financially by the Academy for Systems Change, the Women Divers Hall of Fame and by local politician Victor Castro Cosio. Nicole Corpuz and Liliana Gutierrez accompanied the women through the course providing moral support.

 

In total, 8 students completed the course, 5 women and 3 men. Originally, we had planned for the course to include only women, however, we realized the importance of gender equality and offered the remaining three spaces to anyone in the community who expressed real interest. One young man, the son of a dive fisherman, wanted to take the PADI Open Water Diver course in order to get over his fear of the sea. Two dive fishermen who work as guides in tourism took the course as a first step toward becoming a Divemaster. As a Divemaster they would be able to expand their tourism services to include SCUBA diving.

 

The practice sessions took place in Corumuel and Saltito Beach. The four open water dives took place in the islets of Gaviota and Merito, just outside of the city of La Paz. All eight students passed the course and the WDHOF grantees emerged with new visions for their future in scuba.

 

Martha Magdalena Garcia Juarez, recipient of the Susan L. Williams Memorial Dive Training Grant, was fascinated by the world she saw under the sea. Her fascination was fueled by the desire to understand what it is about the underwater world that her dive fisherman husband was so addicted to. During her open water dives, the fishermen who took the course showed her how to find the species that they harvested commercially in the past. She said, “It was incredible. I never thought I would be able to see the world that they saw. Now I know why they love diving so much and why they feel so free underwater.” Her next diving goal is to clean the sea floor in their historic fishing grounds and to get trained to do monitoring of the twelve species they have rights to.

 

Ruth Araceli (Chely) Mendez Marquez received the Kids Sea Camp Basic Dive Training Grant sponsored by Kids Sea Camp WDHOF Member Margo Peyton. Chely was the driving force behind this dive course and without her insistence this course would not have come to fruition. This dive course has taught Chely to challenge herself to become comfortable in a new environment and that with determination, persistence and the overwhelming support of the entire class, she can become a diver. Her next diving goal is to learn to do biological monitoring and travel to different fishing communities to encourage other women to learn to dive.

 

Emma Elizabeth Marquez is the recipient of the Miss-scuba Dive Training Grant sponsored by WDHOF Member Szilvia Gogh. Emma is a woman who lives for the sea and a true fisherwoman. A leader among the youth in her fishing community, she effortlessly organizes trips to catch shrimp, handline for fish and processes and sells her own catch. After this PADI course, she has added another qualification to her resume: she is now a diver. With this new diving knowledge, she plans to work with the men in the removal of invasive species in their fishing grounds. It is heavy work; she will haul 50 pound baskets underwater against strong currents and carry 100 pound containers from the boat to the work site. While some may see this as a heavy task, she is overjoyed at the idea of gender equality aboard the fishing boats and wants nothing more than to be at sea everyday restoring her fishing grounds.

 

“I have no idea how I will make this happen, but no matter what, I will learn to dive. And once I do, I will monitor the scallops, I will remove the invasive species from the fishing banks and I will participate in scallop aquaculture.” That was the heartfelt intention that Chely, member of the anti-poaching unit of the El Manglito Women, set one day.

 

It was impossible to not follow her. Five women and three men form El Manglito successfully completed their Open Water certification on Friday August 16th, 2019. They discovered a new platform for solidarity and equity. Your scholarships helped them achieve this dream. Thank you Women's Divers Hall of Fame! Thank you for sharing the vision of Aracely and the women from El Manglito and making it possible for them to dive.

 

This opportunity has opened a door for the women to enter the fishery restoration as divers. Due to Aracely’s determination a vision has emerged focused on equality, equity, shared responsibilities and the freedom to choose. The El Manglito community now includes five women fully equipped and prepared to sustain the effort they have made to bring back life to the ocean and to empower their community for collaborative work and collective leadership.

 

Visit www.wdhof.org to Learn more & Apply for a Scholarship!