Our last camping trip for the course was to a beach towards the northern face of Tibur\u00f3n Island, overlooking the Infiernillo Channel. The tents were a respectable stone\u2019s throw away from Puna C\u00edrculo, a flat point on the water where Comc\u00e1ac warriors once danced and sang for victory in their battle against Mexican oppression. Our panga captain, Ernesto, spoke to us of the point\u2019s significance, tracing the outlines of old dancing circles across the sand while he told of his great-grandfather\u2019s role in those past victories. I later on questioned Ernesto about the island\u2019s significance to the Comc\u00e1ac, curious to learn more about his family\u2019s history and ties to the point. Despite my shaky Spanish, we spoke at length about his people and their connections to Tibur\u00f3n and San Esteban\u2014another island of great cultural importance to the Comc\u00e1ac\u2014the conversation turning eventually towards the struggles of conservation and external fishery pressure on the wealth that is the Infernillo Channel\u2019s marine resources. In theme with the general lines of thinking that had shaped the class\u2019 past stakeholder discussions, I asked Ernesto about what he thought of conservation\u2014what it meant to him. His response was a simple one, but powerful. \u201cEl respeto.\u201d Respect.<\/p>\n
Granted, Ernesto was referring specifically to the respect\u2014or current lack, thereof, through his eyes\u2014of outsider fishermen coming in from Kino to raid the channel\u2019s marine resources. In my mind, however, this one little word stretched wider than just the Kino fishermen\u2019s perception of the Infiernillo. In my mind, this simple concept of respect <\/em>stretched wide enough to catch even the most seemingly convoluted relationships and motivations that had been straying about my notebook throughout the course: Family, livelihood, trust, cooperatives, committees, catch shares, self-determination, fish buyers, government, outsiders, insider, CONANP, SAGARPA\u2026the list of actors, influences, and connections goes on and knots heavily along the way. Yet, at the base of it all\u2014community, conservation, governance, and small-scale fisheries\u2014these themes rely upon respect. Respect of the natural resources themselves\u2014as we saw with the preventative desires of the clam fishery cooperatives in Puerto Libertad\u2014as well as respect among the stakeholders, at various levels of authority and across a wide scale of interests\u2014as we saw in the communication and successful dynamic among the committee dedicated to marine resource management on San Pedro Nolasco Island. Long story short, I realized that every single dynamic we observed in<\/p>\n
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