While some urban populations have difficulty seeing their connections to the wild environment, the people of the Yucatan understand their dependency. The nonprofit, grassroots group is dedicated to conserving the wildlife and fabulously diverse ecosystems of the Yucatan, which juts like a shrugged shoulder into the Caribbean Sea. Like much of the Yucatan, Celestun is suffering the aftershocks of the collapse of the peninsula's main industry, henequen, an agave fiber used for ropes and twine. Encouraged by the government, farmers planted monocultures such as corn and citrus with disastrous results in the thin, peninsular soils. Also with government incentives, others began migrating to the coast in search of work.
Octopi thrive on the broad continental shelf.
But biologists fear the fishery is overtaxed and could decline. There aren't many employment opportunities in the area. Some former farmers seine shrimp out of the estuary. Others harvest salt from evaporation flats. Firewood sellers hack at the mangroves, which serve as nurseries for fish and shrimp and are supposed to be protected.