Vaquita conservation

El Presidente was in San Felipe Thursday...http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/apr/16/endangered-vaquita-plan-save-gulf-california/?#article-copy

This is some of the best news yet in the effort to stop the destruction of the fish and wildlife in the Sea of Cortez. I just hope they are serious about implementing their "new plan" as well as enforcing it...with serious consequences. They also need to include long line fishing bans and restrictions to the shrimp trawlers in their plans. The article says the governors of Sinaloa, Nayarit and Baja California were present, but not the governor of Sonora?? Not a good indication of local support. The following quote is a long overdue response to the problem but unfortunately may be too late.
The threat to the Vaquita “is a symptom of a broken system,” said Alejandro Robles, chairman of the Mexican environmental group Noroeste Sustentable. “The Upper Gulf has tremendously valuable resources. It has been the historical disorganization of the fishing sector that has created what we have today.”
The extent of the damage already done is sad and overwhelming.
http://www.seawatch.org/reports/sea_of_cortez.php

Mexico Implements Plan to Save Endangered Vaquita Porpoise
The gill net ban is now officially in effect. Lets hope the enforcement is aggressive.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/mexico-implements-plan-save-endangered-vaquita-porpoise-30377326
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/world/americas/mexico-moves-to-save-endangered-porpoise.html?_r=0
I'm also hearing rumors the commercial shrimp trawlers are being paid (subsidized) to not harvest shrimp. Can't find anything to confirm this. Anybody have any details? It appears it only applies to gill nets.

I thought the gill net ban was over by San Felipe. Hopefully it doesn't cause more nets by us

Yeah, you're right. That could be a big problem.

Sorry to burst the bubble........

It will never happen, since once they are all gone they won't be a problem any longer.

Hit the beach at Santo Tomas last Saturday afternoon. Made a right turn, went 100 feet and saw a dead sea turtle in the surf. It was an adult Olive Ridley with no obvious injuries. Went another 200 feet saw two dead sea turtles in the surf. They were one adult and one juvenile about two feet long Olive Ridley's with do obvious injuries. We started a tally sheet then stopped counting dead sea turtles at two miles of driving with eleven dead. At our turn around point we estimated at least one dead turtle every quarter mile. We drove about twenty miles up the beach that day, which means at least eighty dead turtles. We did not count the dead Sea Lions or Dolphins, but there were plenty. No animal of that size and lifespan can withstand losses of breeding adults at that level. I believe those turtles had all drowned in gill nets and trawl nets.

JJ

We saw 2 dead sea turtles last week on the beach between Dorada and Encanto- so sad

The gill nets are out of control but I think it is the Sardine trawlers with the panga support

I thought the trawlers, by law, were to use turtle exclusion devices in the nets. But a few zip ties to close them solves any inspection problems.

Think you are right but when they come by the dead stuff on the beach is eveywhere.Like Jim reported the dead Sealife count by us is just unreal....maybe a red tide? Maybe they are just starving?

In late January I wrote: " I saw last weekend what looked like a red tide, but then it went away with the higher waves. I say red tide because the sea was so blue, but the dark area looked more reddish in color. Also there were more dead birds (mostly small) on shore. "

We've spent the last few months cleaning up the dead birds and sea lions on our beach, and I would guess it's from the algae in January/February/March. The only time I could visibly see it was in late January, but the health dept testing could still spot it through March.

Had a dead Sea Lion about 100 yards down from us in Las Conchas this weekend

Three Ridley's in the surf in front of Santo Tomas... Jim might be right

Alive and swimming?

Estero said:

Alive and swimming?

Sorry, dead but recent....the biologist from Prescott College kino station just contacted me about Jim's report.

Trying to get a bit more confirmation...the worry is the gill netters are moving down here making a bad situation worse

Roberto said:

http://rockypoint360.com/gill-net-ban-expected-to-impact-local-panga-operators/

How does the ban affect RP pangeros? The exclusion zone is on the western half of the upper Sea of Cortez, nowhere near RP. The local pangeros shouldn't be subsidized because they aren't being restricted. Or am I missing something?

They go north sometimes...we ran into pangeros from Guaymas all the way over on Angel Island

jerry said:

They go north sometimes...we ran into pangeros from Guaymas all the way over on Angel Island

Yeah, I figured something like that but at least they can fish as long as they stay closer to home.

CEDO launches comprehensive coastal fishing program
Probably a great plan but how do you get the fishermen to go along with it?
http://rockypoint360.com/cedo-launches-comprehensive-coastal-fishing-program/

Landshark said:

How does the ban affect RP pangeros? The exclusion zone is on the western half of the upper Sea of Cortez, nowhere near RP. The local pangeros shouldn't be subsidized because they aren't being restricted. Or am I missing something?

Gill net ban expected to impact local panga operators
By Azucena Mazon on April 17, 2015@rockypoint360

At least 350 panga operators and some 1,000 families in Puerto Peñasco will be affected by the temporary ban on gill nets for smaller boats, known as “pangas”, in the northern part of the Gulf of California in an effort to protect the endangered vaquita marina and other species.

On April 10th, the Official Journal of the Federation published notice of the two year ban for the Upper Gulf of California, which encompasses fleets of smaller vessels in Puerto Peñasco, the Golfo de Santa Clara and San Felipe. Within the area of Puerto Peñasco alone there are 350 permit holders that will be directly impacted by this ban, and at least 1000 additional families that are part of the productive process.

The temporary ban launched by the Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) regarding commercial fishing through the use of gill nets was planned as a measure to protect the endangered vaquita marina, a species endemic to the area of which studies show there to exist approximately 100 in the Upper Gulf.

Hermenegildo Ramírez López, Director of the Fishing Office in Puerto Peñasco, indicated one of the factors that will most heavily impact panga operators in Puerto Peñasco in particular is the fact they were not included within a compensation program of up to 1 million pesos being applied to permit holders affected by the fishing ban. In addition, he expressed, there is a serious problem of uncontrolled clandestine fishing, which in Puerto Peñasco points to at least more than 500 pangas operating outside of the law.

Does this mean we should expect another blockade of the exit roads out of the city any time soon?

El Tiburon said:

Does this mean we should expect another blockade of the exit roads out of the city any time soon?

Hope so! Wouldn't be able to go home. Another day or two in paradise!

Local fisherman are requesting the area be expanded
http://rockypoint360.com/penasco-pangueros-propose-extending-reserve-in-upper-gulf/

MIRAMAR said:

Local fisherman are requesting the area be expanded
http://rockypoint360.com/penasco-pangueros-propose-extending-reserve-in-upper-gulf/

All about wanting the subsidy.

Landshark said:

All about wanting the subsidy.

Of course it is but I'd rather see money go in that direction than on a pile of rock's that will be detrimental to the ecosystem.
.

Heard the local fishermen might do some iffy stuff to get the government cheese like the El Golfo guys....

There was a sighting of Vaquita by San Felipe on April 18th: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http://defrente.com.mx/2015/05/confirman-avistamiento-de-vaquita-marina/&edit-text=&act=url