Carlos García-Quijano spent six weeks this summer doing ethnographic research around mangroves and estuarine areas on the South Coast of Puerto Rico, along with Dr. John Poggie and Dr. Hilda Lloréns (Sociology and Anthropology) as well as colleagues from East Carolina University (Dr. David Griffith) and the University of Puerto Rico at Ponce (Dr. Miguel Del Pozo).

Their two-year project, funded by NOAA-Puerto Rico Sea Grant, is titled Coastal Forest Fisheries: A Study of Estuarine Forest Resource Dependency in the Southern Coast of Puerto Rico. The research team seeks to understand the links between use and access to estuarine forest resources -such as land crabs, mangrove oysters and clams, estuarine fish, and coconuts- and the well-being of local residents, with the ultimate goal to make this information available for socially-just coastal area planning and policy making. Data collection activities this summer consisted of interviewing, going fishing with, observing, and spending time with local estuarine fishers, grassroots environmental activists, seafood vendors, and other coastal residents who use resources and live around these coastal forests.