Spanish Abstract: Este articulo aborda el caso de la comunidad de pescadores maritimos artesanales “Don Jaca ”, ubicada en Santa Marta, en la costa caribe de Colombia. La comunidad denuncio una disminucion en la pesca local debido a la contaminacion marina generada por la actividad portuaria de transporte de carbon, que se instalo en su area de pesca desde 1992. La investigacion indago los fundamentos de esta denuncia a fin de determinar el impacto que pudo haber generado la disminucion de la pesca en la identidad cultural de Don Jaca . Los resultados demuestran que , aunque no es posible determinar con certeza la responsabilidad de los puertos en la disminucion del recurso , entre otros factores porque hay diferentes posiciones al respecto, existen evidencias que validan este senalamiento y son claros los impactos en la perdida de aspectos identitarios de la comunidad, ligados inescindiblemente a la pesca. La metodologia incluyo la identificacion de elementos claves de la identidad de los pescadores artesanales, a partir de las contribuciones de la antropologia maritima, Asi mismo se aplico analisis documental y revision de datos secundarios con entrevistas en campo. Palabras clave: pescadores artesanales, contaminacion marina, impactos en la pesca, puertos de carbon, marinos. English Abstract: This paper addresses the case of the community of artisanal maritime fishermen “Don Jaca”, located in Santa Marta, Department of Magdalena, in the Caribbean coast of Colombia. The community denounced a decrease in local fisheries due to the marine pollution generated by the transportation of coal through new port facilities developed in the region since 1992. The research looked at how and to what extent the environmental impacts have affected the cultural identity of this ancestral community. The findings show that, although it is not possible to determine with certainty that the ports have caused the decline of the fisheries, because there are different positions in this regard, the evidence shows that he port activities and the transportation of coal are responsible for marine pollution in the area. The impact of this problem on the fishing community of Don Jaca caused a definite transformation marked by the loss of different aspects of the community’s cultural identity historically related to fishing. The methodology applied included the identification of key elements of the identity of artisanal fishermen, based on the contributions of maritime anthropology, supporting the arguments with documentary analysis, secondary data, and interviews with the local actors.