As an official in Colombia’s Ombudsman’s Office, I was a member of an interdisciplinary team that documented the issues faced by artisanal fishermen. I soon became aware of a serious widespread problem which receives minimal public attention. Those who engage in fishing activities in lentic inland waters, such as lakes, ponds and “ciénagas”, often share a common concern: the waters on which they depend have not been properly demarcated. In other words, the delineation process, known locally as “deslinde,” has not been completed to define the boundaries between ecosystems belonging to The Colombian State and those areas where private property rights apply. This is not a recent issue, on the contrary, this represents a long-standing information gap. The State does not have clear data in regards to delimited wetlands and academia has not extensively explored the problems associated with this process. The consequences of this lack of information are severe. Some of the most well-known include the appropriation of amphibious shores (floodplain lakes referred to in Colombia as “playones”), the loss of fauna and flora due to changes in land use, an increase in property concentration, and the abandonment of collective practices in flood-prone areas. This situation particularly affects the ciénagas, which are wetlands that play a crucial role in mitigating rising water levels during periods of heavy precipitation. They also help to regulate river flows and support the reproductive cycles of fish. Furthermore, there has not been a participatory process to delimit the ciénagas, where the limits of the wetlands are decided with the support of the local population. It is essential to recognize that rural communities are an integral part of these ecosystems, but the Colombian State fails to acknowledge the interdependence that exists between wetland ecosystems and artisanal fishermen. These fishermen, in many cases, have lived in...