The one story I reported this year
Diving—and Dying—for Red Gold: The Human Cost of Honduran Lobster
This story began as a diving obsession. I’m writing you from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where I first heard about lobster divers working in the remote Gracias a Dios region of the country. I’m a certified divemaster, and although I didn’t know anything about lobster, I was curious about the divers who formed part of the multi-million-dollar spiny lobster industry. As I did more research, I learned that the divers are from the indigenous Miskito community, and many end up disabled or paralyzed due to work conditions. Although I had read articles on the issue, I was frustrated that none of them were written from the perspective of a diver. The Miskito divers are the equivalent of Olympic athletes, working with no training and little equipment under conditions that most divers would not survive even for a week. I had no idea where this story would take me when I visited Miskito divers in March 2023 with Mexican photographer Jacky Muniello.
Thank you to editor Lee van der Voo at Civil Eats for your commitment to this work and to the entire team, including Tilde Herrera, who edited the audio version of this story, fact-checker Julie Schwietert Collazo & a wonderful team of pro bono lawyers.
Diving — and Dying — for Red God: The Human Cost of Honduran Lobster, Civil Eats
Abrazos desde Tegucigalpa,
Alice