| Eloy Cuevas grew up in Monkey River, a 300-person fishing village at the mouth of the Monkey River, where it joins the Western Caribbean on the southern coast of Belize. Eloy’s father, his brothers and he are/were locally renowned hunters, fishers, and navigators in the river, on land, and in the sea. He tells stories of being a boy on the beach at Monkey River, when he used to catch sprat by slapping a paddle towards the shore, and catching enormous snook from the beach with a hand-line right. He describes the arrival of gillnets, and the resulting rapid decline in the fish resources. As a commercial lobster, conch, and finfish fishermen for 35 plus years in Belize, Eloy is very familiar with the marine realm, its decline, and the causes of that decline. He has devoted himself to mitigating marine declines, as an active supporter of marine conservation and management within Belize and around the world.
I first met Eloy in 1994, while I was working on my PhD in Belize. It was a Ridge-to-Reef study of integrated coastal management. We spent four days and nights, traveling by wooden dory and hiking in the rainforest near Monkey River, and snorkeling the coastal reefs. From that very first trip, I recognized Eloy’s keen understanding of his environment, and the role of people in it. His vision was to help local people in his community develop themselves by relying on the surrounding natural resources, but being as gentle and respectful to the resources as possible in doing so.
Eloy fast recognized the money that could be made by sustainable, rather than extractive use of natural resources. He taught himself the art of fly fishing. In less than six months after first holding a rod, he was an accomplished and formidable catch and release fishing guide. He was just as quick to share his skills, by teaching other fishermen these skills in his own community, but also in other villages in Belize, and far away places, such as Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica, and Indonesia. His skill as a guide is well known by many but he keeps his schedule largely open, concentrating on only a few favorite clients, fishing commercially for lobsters, and very often, participating as a guide on marine research expeditions.
Eloy worked as my partner and primary guide for 7 years while we explored, documented, filmed, and conserved, Belize’s multi-species spawning aggregations, along with other scientists, government officials, donors, and other fishers. His skill as a boat captain and navigator are only exceeded by his willingness and ability to teach, and to participate as an active research team member, adding validity and reality to our studies that brought them to relevance. He served as a liaison between our project and the communities and government, willing to speak publicly about our findings and their meaning, and thus adding immense confidence for us in our own path, and willingness of communities and governments to accept and act on our findings.
Eloy has taken marine conservation to a new level on his own. He now serves on the board of two NGOs, TIDE and Friends of Nature, and began a new NGO, the Monkey River Guide Association, which has already gained direct support from the UN, and other foundations, and has spearheaded a variety of tangible projects that support conservation and sustainable development. He has been invited to speak to decision makers and fishers in the US by the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council, but also served as a trainer in courses taught in Belize, Jamaica, Mexico, Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica, the Virgin Islands, and Indonesia. Eloy is a familiar face to many of us in GCFI, having participated in several meetings already as a speaker, and as a convener of informal discussions.
Eloy is a quiet but determined leader. Much like Peter Gladding, whom Eloy new well, Eloy makes his livelihood from commercial fishing, but still actively supports the declaration of marine reserves and the sustainable management of marine resources, via a fully democratic process where fishermen are involved. He has participated in this process through the creation of 14 new reserves in Belize. As Peter Gladding did, Eloy serves as a model for other fishermen throughout the Gulf and Caribbean, and the world.
-nominated by Will Haymen and Brian Luckhurst |
