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The development of commercial mariculture is vital to reduce the pressure exerted over natural reserves by extractive or capture fisheries, particularly when this is practised indiscriminately to the point of over-exploitation, as is presently the case along various regions of the Pacific coastline of Mexico. Several important commercial species are being seriously menaced of extinction, such as: abalone, several native scallop species, clams, etc., some of which “Sol Azul” would eventually incorporate to its production line in a future stage of the project.
The technology adopted by Sol Azul is not only non-deleterious to the environment, but on the contrary, contributes to protect native shellfish resources by avoiding fishermen to continue over-exploiting natural stocks of mollusks. Through the creation of permanent employment posts, some 40 local fishermen have ceased to cause predation of wild stocks, and instead, contribute to promote a rational exploitation of the area. Additionally the project has already produced a multiplying effect towards various other nuclei of local fishermen communities extending not only the technology but the very concept of aquaculture. Thus, the company is already contributing to the overall development of aquaculture within the region, and more specifically, to the attainment of the objectives of the creation of the “El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve” which seek the protection of the ecology of the area in conjunction with the sustained development of its dwellers. In fact, one of the investors in Sol Azul which contributed risk capital was the Environmental Enterprises Assistance Fund (EEAF). This Fund retired once the goals in environmental conservation were achieved. |
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The main criteria to limit the negative impact on the environment are equally important to sustainably achieve high production yields as well as to obtain a high quality product. In other words, the deterioration of the culture area produces a negative impact on cultured oysters. Thus, the objectives for protecting the environment favor the enterprise’s goals to attain high quality products. This coincidence in interests is beneficial for the ecology.
It is worth mentioning that the oyster culture equipment and facilities employed by the technology adopted by Sol Azul cause almost no impact on the ecosystem. In turn, since oysters are filter-feeders that feed on phytoplankton there is no introduction of artificial foodstuffs or other chemical products that may harm the ecological balance.
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