By Vitza Cabrera
There is a great variety of productive and recreational activities in San Quintin. If we manage to understand, organize and plan them, each of these activities can develop in a harmonious way. Everyone can have access to the bay and enjoy it, as well as contribute to its protection.
For this reason, since early 2021, under the mentorship of RED Turismo Sustentable A.C. we have been working on the creation of a Public Use Program for San Quintin Bay, a tool that aims to:
- Protect the natural and cultural resources that are an attraction for visitors and that allow productive activities (e.g. commercial fishing and harvesting of other species, aquaculture and agriculture, among others) and recreational activities (e.g. hunting, bird watching, sport fishing, boat rides, gastronomy, etc).
- Define different spaces in which all users and activities can coexist.
How is it planned to be done?
We seek to design a plan that involves all the people who carry out activities in the area, such as communities, farmers, fishermen, service providers (e.g. restaurants, hotels, sport fishing, hunting, etc.), local users (e.g. groups of hikers, cyclists, birdwatchers, surfers), mexicans and foreigners.
Knowing the interests and concerns of each group will allow us to understand the use of the space and organize it in order to create strategies that will allow us to conserve it, and at the same time, use it sustainably. This will allow the area to maintain its richness, diversity, and beauty.
Members of the Municipal Council and the Secretariat of Tourism of San Quintin are the allies with whom we are working to promote this program.
We have also invited ejidatarios, service providers, fish farmers and users of the area to form a group of 8 to 10 people. Together, we will decide how to establish the different ways in which we will use, manage and protect the area.
In addition, we have gathered a lot of information, conducted tours along the bay and interviewed visitors and inhabitants.
What do we hope to achieve?
With the Public Use Program, both local people and visitors will be able to have information at hand about the recreational and tourism activities that take place in San Quintin as well as the type of activities that can be practiced at each of the sites.
The final product will be a map that graphically represents these areas. For example, we will indicate the areas that we consider to be optimal for camping, fishing, hiking, birdwatching, etc.
Likewise, we will write a document that establishes the objective and vision of each zone, the activities that we want to promote and that are optimal to be carried out in every place and management strategies that could be implemented in order to achieve the proposed objectives.
Each zone will have its specific management actions, indicators and standards to achieve the objectives. This will allow us to constantly monitor changes and make the necessary adaptations as well as to maintain the infrastructure, reforest with native plants, restore roads and trails, improve the access to the area, etc.
San Quintin Bay belongs to all of us and it is for all of us, help us take care of it!