Mayra Lino: Tour guide

For Mayra Lino of the El Morro Concession southwest of Guayaquil, mangroves are a source of life, work and daily sustenance. For these reasons, it is important to her that they are conserved and managed properly.

Lino grew up among the mangroves, but only started working in them in 2001 when she married her husband, who owns a small, community-based tourism company. She received a naturalist license through the Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment and has been working as a tour guide ever since. Lino's boat tours leave out of the small port of Puerto El Morro and make their way through winding mangrove channels, offering visitors the chance to see abundant wildlife such as frigate birds and dolphins along the way.

On a typical tour, as the boat travels through the estuary, Lino introduces the area and explains the importance of the mangroves to the people living in El Morro and to the different species that thrive in the mangroves. She explains that mangroves are where crab, cockles and numerous fish species such as mullet are caught. In fact, red crabs feed on organic matter found only in mangrove soil, and spend most of their time deep in muddy holes on the banks of mangrove forests. For a number of the tourists, the boat tour is their first-ever encounter with mangroves; many are surprised to learn that the main ingredients in their ceviche come from coastal forests like this.

When Lino first began working as a tour guide, there were not many other women doing this kind of work. However, over the years the dynamic has changed, and today there are more female guides than male. Lino can see positive changes in these women - critically, that they have the same rights as the male tour guides. Part of a true "family of the mangrove," Lino's daughter also works as a boat tour guide. To Lino and her family, the mangrove is an indispensable, life-giving resource and she invites everyone to come and get to know "her" mangrove forest.

Marina Garcia, Andrea Mite and Karen Cruz: Cockle collectors

About a quarter of the El Morro community dedicates themselves to the collection of red crab and various species of cockles, or saltwater clams. While the field is largely dominated by men, a small group of women - including Garcia, Mite and Cruz - can also be found in the mangroves at low tide, collecting smaller species of cockle.

Garcia's parents first taught her how to collect cockles in the mangrove when she was eight years old. The first time she went out into the muddy mangroves was challenging, but she quickly became used to the harsh work environment. Today, Garcia loves having an excuse to get covered from head to toe in mud. The income that she gets from collecting cockles pays for lunch for her family of four all week.

Mite considers the daily trip to the mangroves to collect cockles as a family tradition that brings her immense pride. People from outside the community are often surprised to hear that women are also out in the mud collecting cockles, but for Mite there is no reason why women are not just as capable of this job as men. Her daughter, Cruz, first went out into the mangroves with her father at age 14, where he taught her how to navigate the muddy terrain. The trips to the mangroves now provide Cruz with the income she needs to support her two young children.

Many of the female cockle collectors in El Morro head out together in canoes, singing the whole way there and back. They are friends who enjoy their time spent out in the mangroves. When out as a group, time goes by quickly and the women return with the tiny cockles that translate into money in their pockets.

Some of the other women in the community are afraid to go out into the mangroves, fearful of the canoe ride or of navigating around the mangroves. For Garcia, Mite and Cruz, there is no fear; for them the mangroves are a symbol of their control over their own fate.

Elizabeth Guinessey was a Trott intern for CI Ecuador in the summer of 2016.

This article was originally published on CI's blog Human Nature.