Sound of dice

SEVERAL MEN STAND TOGETHER PLAYING A GAME OF CHANCE, USING HAND-CUT DICE. THERE'S LESS WORK ALONG THE BEACH THAN NORMAL.

JOSE TRUJILLO SIPS A COKE BENEATH THE THATCH OF A BEACHSIDE KITCHEN AND SHAKES HIS HEAD AT THE SITUATION OF FONSECA FISHERMEN.

"The fish we're getting from the ocean now are very few. Since Mitch, the catch has disappeared. It's dead. That's the only way to say it. The catch has totally disappeared."

AT POINTS ALONG THE GULF, OTHER PEOPLE WHO TRADITIONALLY MAKE THEIR LIVING FROM THE SEA TELL SIMILAR STORIES. FAR FROM ANY NEIGHBORS, JESUS LAINE LIVES WITH HIS FAMILY IN A MAKESHIFT BOARD HOUSE ON THE SHORE OF A LAGOON SURROUNDED BY MANGROVE. LAINE USUALLY MAKES ENDS MEET THROUGH A RESOURCEFUL COMBINATION OF SHRIMPING, FISHING AND FARMING, BUT IN THE STORM HE LOST ALL THREE.

"We can't plant any crops because the field here is just buried, and as far as fishing, we're screwed there too, because there's no fish. The lagoon is all filled up with dirt and the mangrove is all dried out. So the fish aren't coming in because the fish, they like the shade. I've got a houseful of children. There are times I go out and come back with nothing. We're hungry, but what can we do about it?"

TWO HONDURAN ENVIRONMENTALISTS STAND NEXT TO JESUS LAINE, SURVEYING THE LAGOON AND THE OCEAN BEYOND. ONE OF THEM, JORGE VARELA, IS A BIOLOGIST AND FOUNDER OF A FISHERMAN'S ALLIANCE CALLED CODEFAGOLF. HE'S BEEN WORKING FOR ELEVEN YEARS WITH FISHERMEN ON THE COAST TO HELP THEM UNDERSTAND THE CRITICAL ROLE OF THE MANGROVE FOREST AND THE COASTAL ECOSYSTEM. THE HONDURAN MANGROVE WITH IT'S EXPOSED TWISTED ROOTS, IS THE HABITAT OF AN ARRAY OF SEALIFE FROM CRABS TO SCALLOPS TO SHRIMP, AND VARELA SAYS THE FISHERMEN WERE TAKING CARE OF IT, BUT IN THE STORM IT TOOK A BEATING.

"They were really conserving the mangrove very well, but see all that brown over there? that's dead mangrove. The problem is the huge amount of earth that was dragged down and dumped here by the storm. It has buried the roots of the mangrove and the habitat of the selfish, the crabs and a huge variety of small larvae that came to the roots of the mangrove."

Sound of feet moving through garbage pile

BESIDES THE LOSS OF THEIR SOURCE OF FOOD, COASTAL RESIDENTS LIKE JESUS LAINE AND HIS FAMILY ARE COPING WITH ANOTHER HEALTH HAZARD BROUGHT ON BY HURRICANE MITCH -GARBAGE. AFTER THE STORM PEOPLE SPENT WEEKS PULLING TRASH OUT OF LAINE'S LAGOON PIECE BY PIECE, SHEETS OF INSULATION RIPPED FROM OCEAN SHIPPING CONTAINERS, PLASTIC JUGS OF MOTOR OIL. THEY BUILT A MOUNTAIN OF TRASH 5 FEET HIGH AND 30 FEET LONG.

Sound of full drum of pesticide

WORST OF ALL ARE THESE. FIFTY GALLON DRUMS OF PESTICIDES, POWERFUL NERVE TOXINS LETHAL TO HUMANS, LYING JUST TEN FEET FROM THE LAINE FAMILY'S HOUSE. THE CHEMICALS COME FROM LARGE FARMS JUST UPSTREAM WHERE EXPORTERS GROW COMMERCIAL CROPS LIKE MELON, CUCUMBER AND PINEAPPLE. NO ONE KNOWS HOW MANY OF THESE CONTAINERS WERE WASHED OFF THE FARMS AND ONTO THE COASTLINE BY THE STORM WATERS, BUT HONDURAN HEALTH OFFICIALS ARE AWARE THEY'RE THERE.

"Initially after the storm, the government said they'd pay people to pull out the chemicals."

SAUL MONTUFAR IS PRESIDENT OF CODEFAGOLF, THE FISHERMEN'S ALLIANCE.

"And after the storm the fishermen were in desperate circumstances and they said 'I'll pull this out because they're going to give me 500 lempiras', and the government launched this PR campaign and then they never came and never paid people anything."

IN SPITE OF ALL THIS, THE LOSS OF FISH AND SHRIMP, THE GARBAGE, THE PESTICIDES, SOME ARE FINDING REASONS TO BE OPTIMISTIC. HURRICANE MITCH HAS BROUGHT A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF THE IMPORTANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN HONDURAS. RECENTLY THE ASSOCIATION OF COMMERCIAL SHRIMP OWNERS AGREED TO SUPPOR PROTECTION OF THOUSANDS OF ACRES OF SHORELINE IN THE GULF OF FONSECA. ALSO FOR THE FIRST TIME, BUSINESSES DOWNSTREAM, LIKE THE SHRIMP PRODUCERS, MAY START HELPING TO PAY FOR SOIL CONSERVATION PROGRAMS UPSTREAM. TIM MAHONEY WITH THE U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT SAYS THIS RECOGNITION HAS BEEN BUILDING FOR YEARS.

"I think there's an ongoing understanding that environmental management is key to sustainable development there. That what happens on the hillsides upstream has significant impacts on what goes in downstream."

OTHER EXPERTS SAY THIS TURNAROUND CAN'T HAPPEN QUICKLY ENOUGH. IAN CHERRETT IS AN AGRICULTURAL ADVISOR WORKING WITH THE UNITED NATIONS FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION. HE SAYS WHAT HONDURAS NEEDS IS A MASSIVE DEBRIS CLEAN-UP PROGRAM TO LOWER THE RIVER LEVELS LEFT SO HIGH BY MITCH'S MUD AND ROCKS, AND HE SAYS IT NEEDS IT BEFORE THE REAL RAINS ARRIVE.

"My major concern for the future of Honduras is that the forecast is that we're going to have wet season because we are in a year of the La Nina, and the concern is that very little has been done to clear all the debris, that we will see early flooding again in this sea."

Sound of ocean

AS THEY WAIT FOR THE FISH TO COME BACK, AND FOR THE OCEAN TO RETURN TO ITS CLEAR TURQUOISE, MANY HONDURANS ARE BEGINNING TO HEAR FAMILIAR RATTLE OF RAIN ON METAL ROOFS, AND THEY WORRY HOW THEIR CHANGED LANDSCAPE WILL FARE UNDER THIS SEASON'S STORMS.

FOR LATINO USA, I'M INGRID LOBET IN SAN LORENZO, HONDURAS.