Mi Aldea, Mi Langosta (My Village, My Lobster)
I met Director / Producer Josh Wolff last February on my return flight from Nicaragua. We sat next to each other but didn’t end up speaking much; I, however, couldn’t help but eavesdrop into another conversation he was having about his documentary on the Lobster Diving community along the country’s Miskito coast (clip above). I would facebook him and trick him into having brunch with me a few weeks later.
From him, I learned that lobster is the 2nd most exported commodity in Nicaragua, representing a more than $50 million dollar industry. And unfortunately, due to such demand, the competitive nature of lobster diving, and inadequate healthcare and insurance, divers frequently fall victim to Decompression Sickness, aka ‘The Bends.’ As a consequence, almost 100% of Miskito lobster divers suffer neurological damage and many become paraplegic. Josh wanted to record their story as the Nicaraguan government plans to phase out lobster diving in the next three years.*
While I am thankful I don’t eat lobster and thus, don’t enable a commercial industry that causes this, I do feel ambivalent about what the appropriate solution is. If lobster diving is the Miskito community’s only source of income, what can be offered as a viable alternative?
Related links:
- Nicaragua Lobster Divers Risk Life, Limb
- The Hunt for Red Gold in Honduras
- Red Gold Killing Nicaragua Divers
*What happens to the black market, of course, is another story entirely.
