Photos: Risking injury and death for lobsters in Honduras | Hindustan Times
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Photos: Risking injury and death for lobsters in Honduras

Updated On Jan 13, 2019 02:34 PM IST

A diver makes 75 lempiras ($3) per pound of lobster in Honduras. An average 10-pound daily haul of lobster is a windfall for people in one of the most impoverished regions of the Americas, so many take the risk, and many suffer for it. The Mosquitia region of Honduras and Nicaragua is sprinkled with small fishing villages where indigenous villagers live in clapboard houses. The boats, where they spend days playing cards and talking among themselves between dives, often have only rudimentary safety equipment and use aging tanks and masks. Just how many have been stricken by decompression sickness is somewhat unclear, though all agree it's a large number for such small communities.

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A diver holds onto his catch of lobsters during a fishing journey in the Miskito coast near Cay Savannah, Honduras. Saul Ronaldo Atiliano was diving for lobster in the clear waters off Honduras’ Caribbean coast when he felt a pressure, a pain in his body. And he knew he’d gotten the sickness that has killed or disabled so many of his Miskito comrades. (Rodrigo Abd / AP) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Jan 13, 2019 02:34 PM IST

A diver holds onto his catch of lobsters during a fishing journey in the Miskito coast near Cay Savannah, Honduras. Saul Ronaldo Atiliano was diving for lobster in the clear waters off Honduras’ Caribbean coast when he felt a pressure, a pain in his body. And he knew he’d gotten the sickness that has killed or disabled so many of his Miskito comrades. (Rodrigo Abd / AP)

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Miskito divers wait to board a boat for a two week fishing trip. Thousands of men across the Mosquitia region of Honduras and Nicaragua depend on lobster fishing to eke out a living. And like Atiliano, hundreds have been stricken with the bends — decompression sickness caused when nitrogen bubbles form in divers’ bodies. Some are paralyzed. Some are killed. (Rodrigo Abd / AP) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Jan 13, 2019 02:34 PM IST

Miskito divers wait to board a boat for a two week fishing trip. Thousands of men across the Mosquitia region of Honduras and Nicaragua depend on lobster fishing to eke out a living. And like Atiliano, hundreds have been stricken with the bends — decompression sickness caused when nitrogen bubbles form in divers’ bodies. Some are paralyzed. Some are killed. (Rodrigo Abd / AP)

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With more than 60% of its 9 million people living in poverty, Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Latin America, and the Mosquitia is one of the most impoverished areas. Among exotic, tropical vegetation along the Caribbean coast, the region is sprinkled with small fishing villages where indigenous villagers live in clapboard houses. (Rodrigo Abd / AP) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Jan 13, 2019 02:34 PM IST

With more than 60% of its 9 million people living in poverty, Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Latin America, and the Mosquitia is one of the most impoverished areas. Among exotic, tropical vegetation along the Caribbean coast, the region is sprinkled with small fishing villages where indigenous villagers live in clapboard houses. (Rodrigo Abd / AP)

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A sign of the poverty — and also the innocence of childhood — kids play with trucks made of plastic juice boxes with lids for wheels. For many grown-ups, the only option they’ve found to cope with poverty is diving, no matter the risks. (Rodrigo Abd / AP) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Jan 13, 2019 02:34 PM IST

A sign of the poverty — and also the innocence of childhood — kids play with trucks made of plastic juice boxes with lids for wheels. For many grown-ups, the only option they’ve found to cope with poverty is diving, no matter the risks. (Rodrigo Abd / AP)

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Safe standard diving techniques call for a gradual ascent to the surface to eliminate nitrogen that the body’s tissues absorb during a dive, and for a limit to the number of dives in a day. In the Mosquitia, diving permeates everyday life. In the fishing village of Kaukira, worshippers are called to church by the sound of a hammer on a diving tank instead of a bell. (Rodrigo Abd / AP) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Jan 13, 2019 02:34 PM IST

Safe standard diving techniques call for a gradual ascent to the surface to eliminate nitrogen that the body’s tissues absorb during a dive, and for a limit to the number of dives in a day. In the Mosquitia, diving permeates everyday life. In the fishing village of Kaukira, worshippers are called to church by the sound of a hammer on a diving tank instead of a bell. (Rodrigo Abd / AP)

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Many divers go deep, surface quickly and then return for more, racing to collect as much lobster as possible. The boats, where they spend days playing cards and talking among themselves between dives, often have only rudimentary safety equipment. Just how many have been stricken is somewhat unclear, though all agree it’s a large number for such small communities. (Rodrigo Abd / AP) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Jan 13, 2019 02:34 PM IST

Many divers go deep, surface quickly and then return for more, racing to collect as much lobster as possible. The boats, where they spend days playing cards and talking among themselves between dives, often have only rudimentary safety equipment. Just how many have been stricken is somewhat unclear, though all agree it’s a large number for such small communities. (Rodrigo Abd / AP)

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A diver makes 75 lempiras ($3) per pound of lobster and 7 lempiras (28 cents) for each sea cucumber. An average 10-pound (4.5-kilogram) daily haul of lobster is a windfall in one of the most impoverished regions of the Americas, so many take the risk, and many suffer for it, like Atiliano, who dove for 25 years without a problem until that day in September. (Rodrigo Abd / AP) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Jan 13, 2019 02:34 PM IST

A diver makes 75 lempiras ($3) per pound of lobster and 7 lempiras (28 cents) for each sea cucumber. An average 10-pound (4.5-kilogram) daily haul of lobster is a windfall in one of the most impoverished regions of the Americas, so many take the risk, and many suffer for it, like Atiliano, who dove for 25 years without a problem until that day in September. (Rodrigo Abd / AP)

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The father of 10 was paralyzed on the boat, which didn’t reach the docks for another day and a half. Fellow divers then drove him about 10 blocks to the hospital with a US-donated hyperbaric chamber in Puerto Lempira. “It’s the first accident I’ve had,” Atiliano said, appearing exhausted after a session in the chamber. He had shown little outward sign of improvement after that early treatment. (Rodrigo Abd / AP) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Jan 13, 2019 02:34 PM IST

The father of 10 was paralyzed on the boat, which didn’t reach the docks for another day and a half. Fellow divers then drove him about 10 blocks to the hospital with a US-donated hyperbaric chamber in Puerto Lempira. “It’s the first accident I’ve had,” Atiliano said, appearing exhausted after a session in the chamber. He had shown little outward sign of improvement after that early treatment. (Rodrigo Abd / AP)

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Decompression sickness is usually treatable with sessions in high-pressure, oxygen-rich chambers, but there are only a few along the coast, and divers often must wait several days before they can be treated. A study more than a decade ago cited by the Pan American Health Organization reported around 9,000 divers in the Mosquitia, and around 4,200 — 47%— were disabled by decompression sickness. (Rodrigo Abd / AP) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Jan 13, 2019 02:34 PM IST

Decompression sickness is usually treatable with sessions in high-pressure, oxygen-rich chambers, but there are only a few along the coast, and divers often must wait several days before they can be treated. A study more than a decade ago cited by the Pan American Health Organization reported around 9,000 divers in the Mosquitia, and around 4,200 — 47%— were disabled by decompression sickness. (Rodrigo Abd / AP)

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28-year-old lobster diver Charles "Charly" Melendez puts his hands over his face in frustration as he comes to terms with having to rely on a wheelchair to get around, in Puerto Lempira. For a man who always made his living diving, it's a nightmare being confined to a wheelchair. "I still can't stand up by myself," he said. "I can't sit for a long time; after an hour my body hurts. (Rodrigo Abd / AP) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Jan 13, 2019 02:34 PM IST

28-year-old lobster diver Charles "Charly" Melendez puts his hands over his face in frustration as he comes to terms with having to rely on a wheelchair to get around, in Puerto Lempira. For a man who always made his living diving, it's a nightmare being confined to a wheelchair. "I still can't stand up by myself," he said. "I can't sit for a long time; after an hour my body hurts. (Rodrigo Abd / AP)

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Cedrack Waldan Mendoza (L), the physical therapist operating the chamber, said divers are driven by poverty, and even if injured, return to the boats. “You run into them in the street and ask them why they’re going (back to diving) and they say it’s because their kids are hungry,” Mendoza said. “When someone tells you that their kids are hungry there’s no need to ask another question.” (Rodrigo Abd / AP) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Jan 13, 2019 02:34 PM IST

Cedrack Waldan Mendoza (L), the physical therapist operating the chamber, said divers are driven by poverty, and even if injured, return to the boats. “You run into them in the street and ask them why they’re going (back to diving) and they say it’s because their kids are hungry,” Mendoza said. “When someone tells you that their kids are hungry there’s no need to ask another question.” (Rodrigo Abd / AP)

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Atiliano and Melendez are among the most vulnerable cogs in the lobster industry, which generated $40 million in sales for Honduras in 2017, nearly all of it from the US market. Atiliano said he expects to return to sea, not because he wants to, but for lack of options. “If I recover, by necessity and for lack of work I’ll have to go back to diving,” he said. (Rodrigo Abd / AP) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Jan 13, 2019 02:34 PM IST

Atiliano and Melendez are among the most vulnerable cogs in the lobster industry, which generated $40 million in sales for Honduras in 2017, nearly all of it from the US market. Atiliano said he expects to return to sea, not because he wants to, but for lack of options. “If I recover, by necessity and for lack of work I’ll have to go back to diving,” he said. (Rodrigo Abd / AP)

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