Tag Archives: vaquita
Baja shrimp fishermen defy rules designed to save vaquita
Fishermen are defying rules designed to protect the critically endangered vaquita marina porpoise as the new shrimp season begins in the upper Gulf of California. The federal government this week enlarged by 50% a zero-tolerance zone in the gulf’s northern region where the use of a range of fishing nets including gillnets are prohibited. “We’re just looking for a way to keep working,” García said. He said that fishermen are open to different ways of fishing but asserted that the alternatives currently on the table are not viable. >click to read< 09:41
Memorial University flume tank being used for critical conservation work
In the Upper Gulf of California, Mexico, gillnets used in the shrimp fishery have received much of the blame for the plunge in the numbers of a rare marine mammal known as the vaquita.,, One of the key challenges is to encourage Mexican fishermen to change from traditional fishing gear — to get rid of the kilometre-long walls of gillnets in the water that entangle and drown vaquita and other bycatch — and use alternative fishing gear that will be more selective and vaquita-friendly. Such alternative gear is being tested this week in the flume tank of the Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Resources at the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University in St. John’s. >click here to read< 13:16
Banana Republic of Mexico and Sea Shepherds Round Up Fishermen to “save” the critically endangered Vaquita
Crew from six fishing boats in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez were arrested by the Mexican Navy, after they were caught using illegal fishing nets to poach banned fish in a marine reserve. The fishermen had been spotted by the Sea Shepherd vessel scow Farley Mowat, which tracked the six boats until navy officials could arrive on the scene. According to Sea Shepherd, a nonprofit marine wildlife organization, the fishermen were using banned gill nets to catch totoaba bass, a rare fish Mexican law has protected since 1975 but one that is nonetheless poached for its swim bladders, which, at an estimated US$20,000 per kilo, fetch a high price on China’s black market. The fishing boats were stopped and their crews apprehended without incident. Read the story here 12:25
Fishermen upset over extension of ban
With only six months remaining in a two-year ban on all fishing activities in the vicinity of the port town of San Felipe, Baja California, there is now disagreement between fishermen and environmental groups over what happens next. Fishing techniques had become a threat to the vaquita, whose numbers have declined to an estimated 60, because they are caught along with the totoaba, a fish species whose swim bladder is a delicacy in China. The two-year federal program was intended to give the marine mammals a respite started in April 2015. As its end draws near, environmental organizations have asked authorities for broader controls on the illegal totoaba fishing and the creation of a safe zone for the vaquita. Read the story here 14:59
