Pesca limpia (CLEAN Fishing)
Clean Fishing is an internationally recognized program where the Asociación Cincahuite works with four fishing cooperatives to improve the living conditions of fishermen and their families. The community cooperatively manages the fishery for sustainable income. The fishermen from these communities, representing 575 families, began the program to combat blast fishing in the bay in the 2000s. Since that time, the fishing cooperatives and the Cincahuite Association have worked together to improve the market and sell fish at better prices.
FOOD SECURITY & NUTRITION
To promote community health, the Asociación Cincahuite has several programs that strengthen the nutrition of the people of Puerto Parada. One of these programs is early nutritional attention from pregnancy to childhood. This program improves child nutrition by focusing on mothers and fathers with children under 5 years of age belonging to 12 communities. A focus on early childhood nutrition has lifelong positive effects on both physical and mental health.
SUSTAINABLE & ORGANIC AGRICULTURE
The Puerto Parada area has an agricultural economy, but historically has been one based on the monoculture of sugarcane, cotton and corn. Hand in hand with the Food Security program, the Organic and Sustainable Agriculture initiative contributes to improving the diet of families in 12 communities with the establishment of collective and family organic orchards, corn plots and crops in mesh houses. These gardens not only provide a diversity of fresh fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, radishes, chili peppers, and cucumbers, but also create educational opportunities for the younger generations.
Community resources
The Asociación Cincahuite was created as a response to massive flooding caused by the Rio Grande de San Miguel in 2001. Floods and other natural disasters continue to occur to this day and will only increase in the face of climate change. The Asociación Cincahuite has the experience and human resources to organize rapid responses and meet the needs of the community. Additionally, the organization functions as a hub where community members can connect with government services.
Mangrove reforestation
The most important natural resource in Puerto Parada are the mangroves. Jiquilisco Bay is one of the largest extensions of mangroves in Central America. The bay is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and a Wetland of International Importance by the Ramsar Convention. Mangroves shape daily life, provide rich habitat for fishing, and contribute to the region's biodiversity, but large areas have been lost over the past century. We are starting a program to identify and improve these mangrove areas that are most affected. With this program and together with the fishing cooperatives, we will begin to reforest mangroves in the coming years.
MANGROVE CLEANUP & WASTE COLLECTION
If the garbage is thrown into the Rio Grande de San Miguel, it will flow into the Jiquilisco Bay and contaminate the mangroves. The river drains the eastern sector of El Salvador and empties into the bay just outside Puerto Parada. The Asociación Cincahuite currently organizes solid waste collections to take care of the mangroves, the environment and our communities.
