Monday, December 29, 2008
Mexico Works to Protect
Endangered Sea of Cortez Porpoise
Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources
· 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.
The monitoring, carried
out by Mexican, U.S., Canadian, English, German and Japanese experts, showed that the pod of porpoise detected is in good
health and has not registered a decline in its population, estimated at 150.
He explained that the
cruise ship's crew includes researchers from the Marine Mammals' Program of the National Institute of Ecology (INE); as well
as specialists from the Southwest Fisheries Science Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and
the National Marine Fisheries Center (NMFS).
He said that at the request
of fishermen from San Felipe, and with the help of INE personnel, discussion and analysis workshops were held in the municipalities
of San Felipe, Golfo de Santa Clara, and Puerto Peñasco (all in the Upper Gulf of California), where it was agreed that fishing
activities would have sustainable planning, with ecological equilibrium for a period of 50 years.
Lastly, the Semarnat
director said that joint work is being carried out with the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fishing
and Food; the governments and universities of the state of Baja California and Sonora; the Intercultural Center of Studies
of Deserts and Oceans; and Pronatura to ensure that the pledges made are shared by the three orders of government and the
scientific community, in order to advance towards the conservation and recovery of the species.
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Press Release: Secretariat of Environment and Natural
Resources, December 26, 2008, Mexico City
Translation Presidency of the Republic [edited]
