In the Esmeraldas region of northern Ecuador a large mangrove reserve has been created, within which several villages have custodianship of the forests. Here traditional ways of mangrove-dependent fishing continue, including picking cockles from the mud around the mangrove roots. Cockle collection is predominantly women’s work, and in the village of Tambillo I joined a group of these concheras as they set out for the mangrove collecting grounds. Here is the blog post I wrote about that experience . . . Read more