A new 'Pescadores vigilantes' program has begun in Baja California Sur in an attempt to put an end to illegal commercial fishing interests (not local hook and line fishermen) in the Sea of Cortez. The program allows anyone to report illegal fishing activities anonymously without fear of retribution, either in person, by phone or via email. The illegal activity will then be published in the La Paz paper - every 20 days - that lists the boats stopped, the denuncias filed, what the authorities have done to date and the final resolution (fines issued).
The program is being funded by Sea Watch and it´s supporters at an estimated $8000 USD per month. Here is some background information provided by Mike McGettigan - founder of SeaWatch.
"We have been very busy starting a civil society sponsored and run vigilance program. It is under the banner of "Plataforma" and is being funded in it's first 90 days of operation by Sea Watch. The group "Plataforma" which Sea Watch helped start is now quite strong and is supported by Mexico's largest NGO's."
"We have always felt you have to start with Vigilance and enforcement. Otherwise you start by setting up marine protected areas, marine parks, sanctuaries, etc. and they immediately become the private fishing grounds of the strongest illegal fishermen. There are fishermen that fight (and pay) to have the rights to fish in the protected areas."
Things are off to a successful start - on the first nocturnal Vigilance program of Plataforma in the Bay of La Paz (June 22-24) they caught 8 boats fishing illegally. The illegal activity will then be published in the La Paz paper as mentioned above.
Mike states, "It will be a score card that forces the authorities to do their job which is to arrest boats fishing illegally and prosecute them."
Good news for Baja and all Sea of Cortez marine life.
Next blog entry - Where & how to report illegal activities.
Molly, author of Viva La Baja! Relocation & Real Estate Guide to the Baja California Peninsula. Available to order at www.vivalabaja.com.
Showing posts with label Sea of Cortez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sea of Cortez. Show all posts
Monday, July 13, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
Update on the Million Dollar Plan
I didn´t want to continue writing about Programa Rector Nacional without giving the primary Mexican organization in-charge - CIBNOR - a fair chance of responding and offering information about the program such as what has been accomplished, what is being worked on and what the end goals are. To read a previous background post on the Million Dollar Plan and CIBNOR, click here: The Million Dollar Plan - Who´s In Charge?.
I tried various contacts through their website and was eventually referred to the program called Ecologia Pesquera - supposedly that has folks working on Programa Rector Nacional. The information page on the CIBNOR website in English is located here: Fisheries Ecology. A short email was sent to the director of the program (maybe too short) that now needs a bit of follow-through and possibly a search for additional contacts and sources as I have yet to recieve any reply.
I was just hoping for a little information on how things are going as many are rooting for their success in using these funds to change the disastrous direction of the current state of things (over-fishing creating near-extinct species such as bluefin tuna), create sustainable fisheries laws and protect the future of the Sea of Cortez and all its inhabitants.
As new developments arise I will make new posts. Until then, we can all keep our fingers crossed.
Molly, author of Viva La Baja! Relocation Guide to the Baja California Peninsula, available to order at www.vivalabaja.com.
I tried various contacts through their website and was eventually referred to the program called Ecologia Pesquera - supposedly that has folks working on Programa Rector Nacional. The information page on the CIBNOR website in English is located here: Fisheries Ecology. A short email was sent to the director of the program (maybe too short) that now needs a bit of follow-through and possibly a search for additional contacts and sources as I have yet to recieve any reply.
I was just hoping for a little information on how things are going as many are rooting for their success in using these funds to change the disastrous direction of the current state of things (over-fishing creating near-extinct species such as bluefin tuna), create sustainable fisheries laws and protect the future of the Sea of Cortez and all its inhabitants.
As new developments arise I will make new posts. Until then, we can all keep our fingers crossed.
Molly, author of Viva La Baja! Relocation Guide to the Baja California Peninsula, available to order at www.vivalabaja.com.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Help Save the Sea of Cortez & Overturn NOM-029
The fight to stop over-fishing in the Sea of Cortez has an extensive history. In October 2002 the Mexican Senate, with support from then president Vicente Fox, cancelled NOM-029-PESCA-2006, also known as Shark NORMA. Sea Watch and other environmental organizations had spent over $60,000 U.S to fight it.
Their victory turned into defeat May of 2007 when president Felipe Calderon passed a new NOM-029 into law. The reason? Commercial interests wanting the right to harvest more fish and make more money. Much of the demand for Baja fish comes overseas from Japan, where bluefin tuna can sell for as much as $45 a pound.
For a brief snapshot of the economic realities at play read the 2004 article Tuna Barons by The Fisherman's Voice.
A good article describing the basics of NOM-029 and the danger it poses to the health of all organisims that call the Sea of Cortez home is Marine Life Threatened in Sea of Cortez at ESPN.com
The Billfish Foundation, and their partners in Mexico, have retained an attorney and begun a series of legal procedures to fight for the modification of NOM-029 and to stop destructive fishing practices. The process and an outline of current actions taken by TBF are described in their online article, Mexican Senate Confronts Shark Norma Negotiations.
Help stop destructive fishing practices and protect the future of the Sea of Cortez.
The International Game Fishing Association (IGFA) and other conservation organizations such as Sea Watch and The Billfish Foundation ask that you demand that NOM-029 be suspended until the following modifications are included:
** Prohibit commercial fishing in the 50 mile protected zones
** Address bycatch so that game fish may not be incidentally targeted and sold
** Regionalize fishing permits to evenly distribute fishing effort
** Vigilant enforcement of commercial vessels by the Armada de Mexico
** Stock assessment and catch and effort data be utilized in making management decisions
This information is included in the online article New Regulations in Mexico Threaten Marine Life in Sea of Cortez on the IGFA website. They have posted a link to an automated email system. Click on each politician's name, type in your full name and click 'submit'.
A pre-formed letter outlining the reasons NOM-029 should be overturned or amended is then sent to the politician in your name. A simple and easy way to have your opinion heard.
I will contact the above organizations by email, and ask to be informed if any new developments occur so that I can post a blog entry about it. Every little bit counts.
Molly, author of Viva La Baja! Relocation Guide to the Baja California Peninsula
Their victory turned into defeat May of 2007 when president Felipe Calderon passed a new NOM-029 into law. The reason? Commercial interests wanting the right to harvest more fish and make more money. Much of the demand for Baja fish comes overseas from Japan, where bluefin tuna can sell for as much as $45 a pound.
For a brief snapshot of the economic realities at play read the 2004 article Tuna Barons by The Fisherman's Voice.
A good article describing the basics of NOM-029 and the danger it poses to the health of all organisims that call the Sea of Cortez home is Marine Life Threatened in Sea of Cortez at ESPN.com
The Billfish Foundation, and their partners in Mexico, have retained an attorney and begun a series of legal procedures to fight for the modification of NOM-029 and to stop destructive fishing practices. The process and an outline of current actions taken by TBF are described in their online article, Mexican Senate Confronts Shark Norma Negotiations.
Help stop destructive fishing practices and protect the future of the Sea of Cortez.
The International Game Fishing Association (IGFA) and other conservation organizations such as Sea Watch and The Billfish Foundation ask that you demand that NOM-029 be suspended until the following modifications are included:
** Prohibit commercial fishing in the 50 mile protected zones
** Address bycatch so that game fish may not be incidentally targeted and sold
** Regionalize fishing permits to evenly distribute fishing effort
** Vigilant enforcement of commercial vessels by the Armada de Mexico
** Stock assessment and catch and effort data be utilized in making management decisions
This information is included in the online article New Regulations in Mexico Threaten Marine Life in Sea of Cortez on the IGFA website. They have posted a link to an automated email system. Click on each politician's name, type in your full name and click 'submit'.
A pre-formed letter outlining the reasons NOM-029 should be overturned or amended is then sent to the politician in your name. A simple and easy way to have your opinion heard.
I will contact the above organizations by email, and ask to be informed if any new developments occur so that I can post a blog entry about it. Every little bit counts.
Molly, author of Viva La Baja! Relocation Guide to the Baja California Peninsula
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
NOM-029 & Saving the Sea of Cortez
Vicente Fox may be gone from the political scene but hopefully some of his legacy will be revived. Five months after taking office, his presidential successor Felipe Calderon signed NOM-029 into law, a bill that many say legalizes destructive fishing practices in the Sea of Cortez.
Called a conservation catastrophe by The Billfish Foundation, NOM-029-PESCA-2006 is a measure that allows commercial longlining in coastal waters of the Sea of Cortez. Prior to NOM-029, commercial vessels were not allowed to fish for or possess marlin, sailfish, dorado and other protected species within 50 miles of the coastline. Only recreational anglers were allowed to fish in these protected zones.
The bill allows long-line fishing from more than 3,000 skiffs, with 350-hook lines, as close as 10 miles from the shore. Medium-size vessels, up to 233 of them with 1,000-hook lines, and enter the Sea of Cortez for massive catches (and bycatches) as close as 15 miles.
It seems ironic that a bill intending, supposedly, to protect a select few species, allows for activities that are decimating other protected populations of fish in the Sea of Cortez. And decimating they are. Sea Watch observed, filmed, and did the math.
Here is one days worth of destruction by a few commercial fishermen, totaled up (by Sea Watch): “Two boats caught around 400 dorado – 110 hooks and 53 dorado on each of them. Each boat had 5 km of longline with 600 to 700 baited hooks in the water. Multiply these numbers by the numbers of boats fishing and you suddenly have 5,000 to 10,000 small dorado being taken from Baja waters on any given day.”
More information and photographs are posted at the following locations on the Sea Watch website:
** SHARK NORMA 029 CONTINUES TO KILL PROTECTED SPECIES
** SHARK NORMA 029 STILL ALLOWS DRIFT GILL NETS CLOSE TO SHORE AND WHALES ARE EVEN DYING FROM INGESTING THE NETS
NOM-029 may currently be law, but the battle to save the marine life of the Sea of Cortez is hardly over. Laws, especially when counter-productive, can be overturned or amended. The following three paragraphs - quoted from a May, 2007 article in the Los Angeles Times – illustrate both sides of the issue, and why NOM-029 is a misguided attempt to protect species such as Blue and Hammerhead Sharks and the Giant Ray in the Sea of Cortez.
Paragraph #1 “NOM-029 limits fishing pressure through permits and imposes gear and area restrictions designed to ensure sustainability. It bans the capture of certain sharks and rays; phases out of drift gill-nets; and outlaws finning, or slicing fins from sharks and throwing their writhing bodies overboard.”
** Why GreenPeace currently supports the bill **
Paragraphs #2 & #3 “But it does not adequately guard against exploitation of "bycatch" species such as dorado, or mahi-mahi, marlin and sailfish – species that gave rise to sportfishing-related tourism and supposedly are off-limits to commercial fishermen.”
“Long-line hooks do not discriminate. Marlin, sailfish and dorado fetch a higher price than sharks, which are already depleted. So it's reasonable to assume the bycatch species are really what the fishermen are after.”
** Why opponents are doggedly fighting it **
Next weeks blog entry - what you can do to help these and other organizations fighting to overturn NOM-029 and save the Sea of Cortez and all its inhabitants.
Molly, author of Viva La Baja! Relocation Guide to the Baja California Peninsula
Called a conservation catastrophe by The Billfish Foundation, NOM-029-PESCA-2006 is a measure that allows commercial longlining in coastal waters of the Sea of Cortez. Prior to NOM-029, commercial vessels were not allowed to fish for or possess marlin, sailfish, dorado and other protected species within 50 miles of the coastline. Only recreational anglers were allowed to fish in these protected zones.
The bill allows long-line fishing from more than 3,000 skiffs, with 350-hook lines, as close as 10 miles from the shore. Medium-size vessels, up to 233 of them with 1,000-hook lines, and enter the Sea of Cortez for massive catches (and bycatches) as close as 15 miles.
It seems ironic that a bill intending, supposedly, to protect a select few species, allows for activities that are decimating other protected populations of fish in the Sea of Cortez. And decimating they are. Sea Watch observed, filmed, and did the math.
Here is one days worth of destruction by a few commercial fishermen, totaled up (by Sea Watch): “Two boats caught around 400 dorado – 110 hooks and 53 dorado on each of them. Each boat had 5 km of longline with 600 to 700 baited hooks in the water. Multiply these numbers by the numbers of boats fishing and you suddenly have 5,000 to 10,000 small dorado being taken from Baja waters on any given day.”
More information and photographs are posted at the following locations on the Sea Watch website:
** SHARK NORMA 029 CONTINUES TO KILL PROTECTED SPECIES
** SHARK NORMA 029 STILL ALLOWS DRIFT GILL NETS CLOSE TO SHORE AND WHALES ARE EVEN DYING FROM INGESTING THE NETS
NOM-029 may currently be law, but the battle to save the marine life of the Sea of Cortez is hardly over. Laws, especially when counter-productive, can be overturned or amended. The following three paragraphs - quoted from a May, 2007 article in the Los Angeles Times – illustrate both sides of the issue, and why NOM-029 is a misguided attempt to protect species such as Blue and Hammerhead Sharks and the Giant Ray in the Sea of Cortez.
Paragraph #1 “NOM-029 limits fishing pressure through permits and imposes gear and area restrictions designed to ensure sustainability. It bans the capture of certain sharks and rays; phases out of drift gill-nets; and outlaws finning, or slicing fins from sharks and throwing their writhing bodies overboard.”
** Why GreenPeace currently supports the bill **
Paragraphs #2 & #3 “But it does not adequately guard against exploitation of "bycatch" species such as dorado, or mahi-mahi, marlin and sailfish – species that gave rise to sportfishing-related tourism and supposedly are off-limits to commercial fishermen.”
“Long-line hooks do not discriminate. Marlin, sailfish and dorado fetch a higher price than sharks, which are already depleted. So it's reasonable to assume the bycatch species are really what the fishermen are after.”
** Why opponents are doggedly fighting it **
Next weeks blog entry - what you can do to help these and other organizations fighting to overturn NOM-029 and save the Sea of Cortez and all its inhabitants.
Molly, author of Viva La Baja! Relocation Guide to the Baja California Peninsula
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