The17th Annual CEDO Environmental Contest took place from March 15 through May 13. 2011, culminating in an Awards Ceremony which was held on June 11.  The theme was "Sustainable Fisheries," and the name of this year's event is "Fishing for the Future." Fishing for the Future focused on fishermen and local student groups partnering to identify better practices for sustainable harvest of Upper Gulf of California fisheries.  

School children from the fishing communities of Puerto Lobos, Desemboque, Ejidos Alvaro, Obregón, Campodónico, XV de Septiembre, Oribe de Alba, El Golfo de Santa Clara, San Felipe, BC and Puerto Peñasco were invited to form teams, headed by a supervising teacher, to compete for prizes that would recognize their efforts to learn about their marine environment and their community's dependence on that environment. 

"Fishing for Our Future" Contest Summary:

For a pdf, printable report of this year's Contest, click here.  

Theme:  Sustainable Fisheries  

Eligibility: First grade through college from schools and institutions of the communities listed above. Schools may enter more than one team, but each team must have a unique supervising teacher.

Deadline to register:  March 11
Contest began:  March 15
Contest ended:  May 13
Awards ceremony:  June 11 at CEDO

Learn more about the June 11 Awards Ceremony.  

Read the final report on the winning teams' projects and their trip to several Protected Natural Areas.  

History:  Since 1995 CEDO has held its annual Environmental Contest in which students of all ages compete to research and solve an environmental problem.  Students publicize the issue within their communities and promote sustainable use of natural resources. CEDO started these contests with a goal of making the youth of Puerto Peñasco actively work on finding alternative solutions to environmental problems and to transmit a conservation message to the community.

In 2010 CEDO's 16th annual Environmental Contest, "Facing Climate Change," focused on the conservation of wetlands as natural mitigators of global warming. Teams created and implemented a project that addressed one of the direct threats to the Northern Gulf of California's estuaries and initiated a campaign to motivate the community to take actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The teams started work on March 2nd and continued their work through April 30th. On June 4th, 2010 CEDO held the awards ceremony for the contest in honor of World Environment Day. We hope to encourage a similar number of participating teams for this year's event.

Teams created and implemented a project that addressed one of the direct threats to the Northern Gulf of California's estuaries and initiated a campaign to motivate the community to take actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The teams started work on March 2nd and continued their work through April 30th. On June 4th, 2010 CEDO held the awards ceremony for the contest in honor of World Environment Day. We hope to encourage a similar number of participating teams for this year's event.  

Photos above illustrate participation in the 2009 Environmental Contest, with a theme "Flying to their Destination."  A “Migratory Parade” and awards ceremony were performed commemorating International Migratory Bird Day and World Environment Day. In the ceremony some students wore bird costumes and Paulina Morales, from a local kindergarten school, won a prize for her original seagull costume, which showed a bird eating a fish.

The efforts of the teams were evaluated by three judges who have a relationship to migratory birds: Alyssa Rosemartin (researcher), Rosario Javalera (oyster farmer) and Carlos Cañez (government official).

The prize winners are listed as followed: team name, school name and then the prize they received. The winners were:
- First Place: "Los Nuevos Exploradores" from Jardín de Niños Nuevos Caminos. $5,000 pesos and 10 tickets to "Aquí es con Flavio" restaurant.
- Second Place: "Los Chicos Vainilla" from Instituto O´dham. $3,000 pesos and 2 tickets to "Las Palomas" restuarant.
- Third Place: "Los Superiores" from CETMAR. $1,500 pesos and 2 tickets to "Porto Fino: restuarant.

Congratulations to all of our winners and to everyone who participated!

Themes from previous years include:
- 1995 - 2000: Clean up and recycling campaigns

- 2001: Ahorremos Agua y Embellezcamos Nuestros Jardines - Let’s Save Water and Enjoy Beautiful Gardens

- 2002: Cuidado con la Basura Orgánica - Careful with Organic Trash

- 2003: Cuidado con las Moscas - Watch out for Flies

- 2004: Reciclemos el Cartón - Let’s Recycle Cardboard

- 2006: Aguas con el Agua - Watch out for our Water

- 2007: Al Rescate de Nuestros Humedales - Rescue our Wetlands

- 2008: Explorando Entre las Mareas y los Arrecifes Rocosos - Exploring between Tides and Rocky Reefs