Spiny Lobster Divers with Disabilities along the Miskito Coast

From top to bottom: Two divers in Puerto Cabeza outside the entrance of a local disability organization. Decompression chamber in the Puerto Cabeza hospital. This is the only decompression chamber on the Miskito coast. A wheelchair being delivered in Dakara.

The Polus Center has begun working with lobster divers on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. As the coastal waters have become overfished, lobster divers—often without proper equipment and basic scuba training—have been forced to go deeper and deeper for longer periods of time. Spiny lobsters sell for $20 or more in North American restaurants, yet divers, who risk their lives, often live below the poverty line. This dangerous activity results in decompression sickness, commonly known as the “bends”, in which nitrogen forms bubbles in the blood as a diver ascends too quickly towards the surface.

Decompression sickness can result in sensory loss, joint problems, and paralysis.

In communities such as Puerto Cabezas and Dakara, dozens of divers are now no longer able to work, support their families, and participate in the community. Lobster diving dominates the economy and passes down as a job from father to son, generation to generation.

The Polus Center extensively interviewed individuals with disabilities along the Atlantic Coast in February, 2007. It was learned that individuals, families, and whole villages face complex needs. They need new and safe forms of employment, income generating and activities for persons with disabilities, access to decompression chambers, empowerment to address employers who overwork and under-protect their divers, basic scuba training and equipment, and, most importantly, ways of assuring that everyone in the community—especially those made vulnerable by disability—can participate and contribute.

The Polus Center has already begun providing outreach through its PLUSAA wheelchair workshop based in Leon, Nicaragua and has begun formulating a project plan for economic integration.