A charity sport fishing tournament in La Paz on May 16 and 17 will raise funds for a specialized center that trains teenagers with disabilities for employment. The event is open to the public, and proceeds go directly to CAM Laboral No. 13, a vocational education facility that serves young people with intellectual, motor, visual, auditory, and developmental disabilities in the La Paz municipality.
Jorge Alberto Vale Sánchez, head of ISIPD (the Baja California Sur state institute for disability inclusion), announced the tournament alongside members of the state congress’s labor and fishing commissions and local business chambers. Vale Sánchez said this year’s event continues a similar fundraising effort held in 2024 that drew broad community participation.
CAM Laboral No. 13 Trains Disabled Teens for Formal Employment
The beneficiary of the La Paz fishing tournament is a facility with a specific mission: preparing adolescents with disabilities to enter the workforce. CAM stands for Centro de Atención Múltiple, a type of specialized education center operated across Mexico under the federal public education system. CAM Laboral centers focus specifically on vocational training rather than general academics.
CAM Laboral No. 13, formally named after educator María Dolores Cervantes Atilano, serves students with a range of conditions. These include intellectual disabilities, motor impairments, blindness or low vision, deafness or hearing loss, multiple disabilities, and severe developmental disorders. The center’s curriculum is designed to teach practical job skills that lead to either formal employment or self-employment.
Mexico operates more than 1,600 CAM centers nationwide, but only a fraction are CAM Laboral facilities with the vocational focus. In Baja California Sur, a state with roughly 800,000 residents, specialized services for disabled youth remain limited. The state’s geography compounds the challenge: small, widely separated communities make centralized services hard to access for families outside La Paz or Los Cabos.
The CAM system in BCS has historically depended on a mix of federal education funding and local support. Charity events like this tournament fill gaps that government budgets leave open, covering materials, equipment, and program costs that help students transition from training into real jobs. Last year’s tournament generated enough community momentum that organizers expanded the coalition for 2025 to include both legislative commissions and private-sector business groups.
La Paz Sport Fishing Scene Draws Locals and Visitors Alike
La Paz has long been a destination for sport fishing, though it operates in the shadow of its flashier neighbor, Cabo San Lucas. The waters off La Paz offer access to dorado, roosterfish, yellowtail, marlin, and other game species, particularly from May through November. The timing of this tournament in mid-May falls at the start of prime fishing season, when warmer water temperatures begin pulling pelagic species closer to shore.
The city’s malecón and marina areas serve as hubs for both commercial and recreational fishing operations. Several local pangas and sport fishing outfitters operate out of the marina near Pichilingue, the same general area where tournament-style events typically launch. La Paz hosts multiple fishing tournaments throughout the year, but most are competitive events with steep entry fees aimed at serious anglers. Charity tournaments tend to be more accessible, with lower barriers to entry and a community-event atmosphere.
The organizers have not yet published specific entry fees or registration details for the May 16-17 event, but ISIPD has indicated the tournament is open to the general public. Past charity fishing events in La Paz have typically charged entry fees ranging from 1,500 to 5,000 pesos (roughly $75 to $250 USD), with the cost covering boat access, registration, and a contribution to the cause.
La Paz’s expat community, estimated at several thousand permanent and part-time foreign residents, has a track record of supporting local charitable events. Sport fishing tournaments in particular tend to draw cross-cultural participation, since the activity itself transcends language barriers and the social format encourages mixing between local and international participants.
Those interested in participating or donating can contact ISIPD through the BCS state government website for registration details as they become available. The tournament takes place May 16 and 17 in La Paz waters, with proceeds going entirely to CAM Laboral No. 13. This story was first reported by the Baja California Sur state government press office.