Haiti – Dominican Republic - Disasters and Conflicts - UNEP

7 Coastal and marineresources7.1 IntroductionDominicans and Haitians living in the coastal areasare interdependent: Haitians buy fishing gearand fuel oil for their boats from the DominicanRepublic and also sell a part of their catch acrossthe border 268 . Haitians and Dominican also bothinfringe on a daily basis on respective territorialwaters. Haitians generally fish close inshore, whilstDominicans fish both inshore and further offshore.With 1,700 km of sea coast and 22,000 ha of inlandwaters, fishing is an important activity for manyhouseholds in Haiti, with 50,000 people workingeither full time or part time within this sector. 269The sector is not, however, well developed andconfronts major constraints such as low qualityequipments, lack of the infrastructure needed forprocessing, conservation and commercialization,as well as insufficient credit sources. 270Artisanal fishing is a sector that largely has beenan underestimated source of livelihood in thesouth-east department of Haiti. Close to 3,300families are involved in this activity, and artisanalfishing provide a direct livelihood to 20,000 persons,with an additional 10,000 involved indirectly in thissector. 271 From an economic standpoint, artisanalfishing creates an annual turnover of more than200 million gourdes (approximately EUR 5 million). 272The fishing sector in the Dominican Republic iscomprised of approximately 8,400 fishermen, and3,300 boats, of which 98% are artisanal. Annualproduction amounts to 11,000 tonnes, putting pressureon the marine and coastal fishing resourcesof the Dominican Republic. This yearly productionis not sufficient to fulfill national demand, requiringthe import of approximately 34,000 tonnes ofseafood every year. 273 As fishing makes a minimalcontribution to GDP (0.5%), fisheries receive littleinstitutional and economic support. 2747.2 Key issuesCoastal and marine resources are issues of serioustransboundary concern, creating clashes andtensions between communities on both sides ofthe border, as well as between Haitian fishermenand Dominican authorities. At the same time it isa key opportunity for co-operation, as describedby the example of the cooperation between thefishermen associations in Pedernales (DominicanRepublic) and Anse-à-Pitre (Haiti), in case study 6.The five main issues that were identified are:• Illegal transboundary fishing and overfishing.• Mangrove cutting for wood and creation ofsalt pans.• Marine protected areas & biodiversity.• Transboundary trade in marine species.• Contamination of estuaries, coastal lagoons,and the sea.7.3 Illegal transboundary fishingand overfishingThe main source of marine territorial tensionsbetween the two countries identified in boththe north and the south were Haitian fishermencrossing illegally into fishing areas belonging to theDominican Republic, and Dominican fishermenentering Haitian waters in better boats with whichthey can fish further offshore than their Haitiancounterparts, creating tensions and frustrationsamong fishermen on both sides of the border.Haitian fishermen are frustrated about not beingable to address the problem of Dominican fishermencoming in on Haitian waters and fishing withbetter equipment. While Dominican fishermen inPedernales (in the south), and government officialsin Montecristi (in the north) on the other handraised the common problem of Haitian fishermenconducting illegal fishing that depletes the fishstocks, and catching protected species (includingturtles) on the Dominican side of the border. 275The northern coastal border area also suffers fromproblems in relation to unclear delimitations of themaritime border between the two countries. Theborder of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is notclearly defined so it is not obvious at what pointa boat has crossed the border. The delimitationof territorial seas is much clearer in the south andboth sides know when they are fishing outside theirterritorial waters.Overfishing practices on both sides of the borderwere also observed among Haitian fishermen in80 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone