How One Community Saved Its Fish | National Geographic

When I was a kid walking down the beach, I could see so many fish along the seashore, the beach... My name is Juan Castro Montaño. I am 71 years old and I've always lived here, in Cabo Pulmo. Fishing was very important for this community because that was our means of living.

I learned how to fish at age 12. Then at 15, I became a professional fisherman. Slowly, commercial fishing began. We noticed that there was massive over-fishing. That was the worst thing we could have done. It was visibly noticeable that the fish population was declining and that fishing here was no longer profitable. There weren't enough fish here to survive.

We stopped fishing from one day to the next. Since we saw how difficult it was to fish there, our generation, my brothers and I were the ones who immediately said yes. We needed to change this, because fishing was very difficult. We invested a lot and we practically didn't get anything back.

Now we work in eco-tourism. It was very, very difficult but we made it. It is a way of preserving the reef and dedicating ourselves to something else. They began to prefer transporting tourists because they knew they got paid well and they consumed less fuel. Besides, they were home early and that's what encouraged them to give up the fishing.

We all benefit from this reef. It has already recovered, not 100 percent... 500 percent. I think that my dad, my grandfather, seeing how the reef has recovered, would think of how it was when they were young. And they would say: “It came back. The riches that we had as kids came back.” I think they would have been very proud.

Other generations will see this when we're gone. We're the sentinels, watching over, and taking care of it. And I tell the children: "I wish part of what I am telling you now remains deeply etched into your minds and hearts, so that even if there are no books talking about this, at least you will keep the story alive once I am gone."