Ocean Sentry
(From bajatimes.com) Mexico – Actions undertaken to persuade fishermen in Upper Gulf of California to give up fishing. Approximately 836 boats have given up fishing in favor of other activities. During the first two years of government, President Felipe Calderón`s administration assigned over $174 million pesos to promote actions to protect the vaquita porpoise, $157 million of which were allocated to conservation and technological and productive reconversion, and $25 million to actions to preserve biodiversity in the Vaquita Sanctuary.
Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada explained that these resources have enabled 836 boats to stop fishing in the Protection Polygon and engage in other kinds of activities, and permitted the cancellation of 1,044 fishing permits, making 1,200 square kilometers of the Vaquita Sanctuary free of fishing and incidental capture.
These activities have been carried out in addition to the inspection and surveillance work undertaken on a permanent basis by the Naval Secretariat and the Federal Environmental Protection Bureau.
The government official added that the National Institutes of Ecology and Fishing engage in experimental work to test new, alternative forms of fishing that will not harm the vaquita and protect the environment.
These include the prototype of a light drag net, a net enabling larger species to escape and traps for catching scale fish and shrimp.
As part of Semarnat`s commitment to ensure the care and protection of endangered species, Elvira Quesada reported that the Acoustic Monitoring Cruise Ship recently observed a group of vaquitas on the coast of the state of Sonora, a crucial phenomenon, since there have been no records of the mammal in this part of the Upper Gulf of California for the past ten years.
Press Release: Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources, December 26, 2008, Mexico City
