By: Paloma A. Valdivia Jiménez, Education and Liaison Manager, CEDO | Cover photo: CEDO Archive
In May 2021, the Intercultural Center for the Study of Desert and Oceans (CEDO) was accredited as a Competency Certification and Evaluation Entity (ECE) before the Mexican National Council for Standardization and Certification of Labor Competencies (CONOCER). With this accreditation, CEDO offers fishermen, professionals and other interested parties the opportunity to certify their knowledge, abilities, skills and individual behaviors to develop work activities particularly related to artisanal fishing.
Certification of labor competencies is a process through which people demonstrate their knowledge, abilities and skills by means of evidence and regardless of how they acquired them, that are necessary to fulfill a function at a high level of performance, as defined by a Standard of Competence.
With CEDO’s School of the Sea we want to reach each and every fisher in the northern Gulf of California. We are starting with standards “EC578 Application of good practices for the handling fishery products on board of smaller vessels” and “EC820 Monitoring coastal fishing activity”.
This joint effort with Pronatura Noroeste, COBI and SmartFish will also provide certifications to fishermen from other locations.
The first certification effort with the goal of certifying a cohort of 65 fishers, started this week with the Coopertativa Bahía San Jorge at Ejido Rodolfo Campodónico (Caborca, Sonora) and Puerto Peñasco Sonora. This effort is supported by Nacional Monte de Piedad through the Social Investment for self-employment project.
Certification comprises three steps, diagnosis, a leveling course, and the subsequent evaluation of the competence. On October 18 and 19, trainers María Bojorquez and José Alfredo Bahena Catalán, instructors from the Centro de Extensionismo y Estandarización Laboral S.C. (CEEL) offered this training at the CEDO Campus.
Our thanks to the Penmont Fresnillo Mine, who joined us to distribute the Good Fishing Practices brochure and for their collaboration transporting attendees to CEDO, as well as to Ramón Suárez, Head of the Puerto Peñasco City Council Fisheries Office.
We hope that very soon other interested parties, students, and youth building the future will join in this effort.
Here’s to our trained fishers!
Since childhood I have been passionate about nature; Understanding it and promoting its conservation led me to study General Biology at the Autonomous University of Aguascalientes (UAA) and to carry out a master’s degree in Use, Management and Preservation of Natural Resources at the Northwest Center for Biological Research (CIBNOR). I have worked in research projects, environmental and scientific education, given classes in biology and ecology.
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Since 2005 I have been working at CEDO designing and implementing different educational and training programs focused on raising awareness of the ecological, social and economic importance of the Gulf of California and promoting the responsible use of its natural resources by students and teachers, fishermen, service providers tourist, officials, tourists and more.