When the Coastal Solutions Fellows Program was launched at 7th WHSG meeting in Paracas, Peru in 2017, I thought with great enthusiasm that I should apply. This represented a unique opportunity to highlight the importance of the salt farm industry in the Honduran Pacific, an industry that I have a strong connection. I am the third generation of a family of artisanal salt farmers located in the city of San Lorenzo, in the department of Valle. San Lorenzo borders the San Lorenzo Bay, a protected area that is part of the Wetlands System of the Southern Zone of Honduras (Ramsar Site 1000).
I grew up admiring the tireless salt farm workers, I remember waking up at dawn to tour the family farm and observe how early in the morning the harvesting of the “white gold” began. That is when I began to understand that salt farm production not only benefited the families of the community, but also provided wildlife with a unique habitat. Among them were the shorebirds, which I began to observe and identify sites within the salt farm where they feed, rest, and reproduce.
Just as I was inspired by these incredible birds, I wanted everyone to learn about salt production and to see that we have a different vision, to turn this small salt farm into a model to follow. I wanted it to be a sanctuary for the wildlife that live in it today while teaching producers that their farms are even more valuable for their contribution to the biodiversity of our country.
Left: Julia counts shorebirds during a regular monitoring event. Right: Aerial view of Julia’s family’s salt pan. Photo courtesy of Julia Salazar
Thanks to the Salt for Conservation project that I started in 2012 at the salt farm, we have received more than 3,000 students from schools, colleges and universities, as well as photographers, tourists and birdwatching enthusiasts. For me it has been a great learning experience and a project that opened the doors to the world of shorebird conservation. As I always say: it has allowed me to fly. In 2020, I joined the WHSRN Executive Office team at Manomet as a Salt and Shorebird Specialist. I began to identify best practices to implement in salt production processes and explore different economic alternatives for artisanal and industrial producers. During this time, we also conducted two years of monitoring to understand, identify, and learn how shorebirds benefit from these man-made habitats.
This has led me to prepare the project that I will begin this year with the support of the Coastal Solutions Fellows program. In this project we will focus on piloting shorebird-friendly practices at 78 salt farms. This project will also help determine the geographic extent of salt production in San Lorenzo. Shorebird monitoring will be conducted in San Lorenzo Bay and the production areas to better understand the abundance of birds at the site and generate information to support the nomination of a new WHSRN site for Honduras.
During this two-year project, we will create alliances between government stakeholders, co-managers of the protected area, the tourism sector, Aves de Honduras, and other important stakeholders to promote the conservation and protection of shorebirds and their habitats in the Honduran Pacific. One objective of these collaborations will be to implement avitourism pilots to provide economic alternatives at the salt farms.
Left: Julia points out shorebirds to visitors of her family’s salt farm. Right: Shorebirds foraging in shallow water in a salt pan. Photo courtesy of Julia Salazar
An important and fundamental part of the project will be to train the salt producers of San Lorenzo about the importance of the natural environments and the benefits they receive from the Gulf of Fonseca and begin a pride campaign to understand the cultural perception of salt in this area.
I strongly believe that this is a project that will not only highlight the importance of the Gulf of Fonseca but will also integrate the productive sectors in conservation and rescue the cultural value of salt production in Honduras. I want to highlight the support of the WHSRN Executive Office and Manomet where from the beginning they showed great interest in supporting my project. I will also share experiences and collaborate with an incredible project, SALARTE, that has been dedicated to the development of capacity building activities associated with the conservation, management and enhancement of the salt farm heritage and coastal wetlands. This initiative has been recognized with environmental and social awards for several international projects including the Saltpan Recovery Project and Saltpan Initiative or MedArtSal which was developed with BirdLife International, Vogelbescherming, Mava Foundation and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in European, African, American and Eastern salt marshes.
It is important to highlight the primary stakeholder in this story — the artisanal salt producers and the National Association of Salt Farmers of Honduras (ASPROSALH acronym from the Spanish). I am excited to share my knowledge and support the sustainable growth of the salt farm industry, creating a model for other salt production sites to integrate the conservation of shorebirds in their processes.
Cover Photo: Walking the dikes between salt ponds to monitor salt production. Photo: Julia Salazar.
