The Good Life

Its all about the lifestyle. I realized I haven't posted a photo in a while and things have been getting way too serious around here. If you look very closely you can see me fishing off the rocks below.

This is a great spot where we lived just north of Cabo San Lucas on the Pacific Coast. The fishing was sketchy due to the big surf and onshore winds that blew every day. However, we saw many marlin and sailfish jumping from our porch. We also saw a big hammer head shark swim by right in front of the rocks where I liked to snorkel when the surf wasn't too rough!!! Turtles nested on the beach here and obviously the dog liked the place.

PROFEPA Checking Licenses in Loreto

According to the Sud Californiano last saturday, PROFEPA (the Mexican agency in charge of fish and game enforcement) will be setting up permanent inspections of fishing licenses and marine park permits. The article is a little confusing stating that there will be different schedules at the marina, on the islands, and in the bay. However, it seems that they are threatening greater enforcement so buy a license, preferably localy, and support FONMAR!!!!

For more information on FOMAR check out my earier post on Fishing Licenses.

Personal de PROFEPA revisa las embarcaciones particulares
El Sudcaliforniano
25 de octubre de 2008

Raúl Villalobos DavisLoreto, Baja California Sur.- Con la finalidad de verificar y comprobar que tanto prestadores de servicios turísticos, como propietarios de embarcaciones particulares cumplan con sus obligaciones establecidas por la ley, personal de PROFEPA en Loreto lleva a cabo operativos de revisión de manera permanente.

Dichos dispositivos de verificación se están llevando a cabo en diferentes horarios, tanto en las instalaciones de la dársena de este puerto, como en las islas o en la bahía de Loreto. Uno de los principales puntos que se están checando es que los pescadores cuenten con sus licencias de pesca correspondientes y sus boletos del Parque Marino Nacional Bahía de Loreto, así como los permisos que les autorizan la prestación de servicios en el área.

Cabe destacar, nos comentaba Rodrigo Ureñas, titular de las oficinas de PROFEPA en Loreto, que estos requisitos son de gran importancia para disfrutar de las bellezas naturales del lugar y su excelente pesca deportiva.

Al mismo tiempo se está verificando que las embarcaciones de prestadores de servicios turísticos y particulares cuenten con su documentación en regla, por lo cual a aquellas personas que son sorprendidas realizando actividades dentro del parque sin cumplir con lo establecido por la ley, se está procediendo a levantar las actas correspondientes y ser turnadas ante la autoridad competente, comentó finalmente.

Reminder - Send your letter to Senator Coppola

I just wanted to remind all you readers out there that there is an important opportunity right now to help defeat the Shark Norma. Head to the Sea Watch Webpage and send a letter today. There are several templates you can personalize or you can write your own. Below is what I just sent:


Distinguished Senator Coppola,

I am writing to express my concerns regarding the Shark Norma (NOM029-PESCA-2006). I am a Conservation Scientist and sport angler who has been visiting your magnificent state for over 20 years. I am the host of a Baja California Flyfishing Blog (http://bajaflyfishing.blogspot.com/) and have written several feature articles on flyfishing in the Loreto area for several widely read magazines including Flyfisherman (http://flyfisherman.com/mca/rnloretosotherseason/).

Unfortunately, during my two decades of visiting Baja California Sur I have witnessed a dramatic decline in reef dwelling and near shore fish species. The continued decline of these species has resulted in a major loss to the sport fishing industry of the region. Given the declines in the inshore and reef fisheries, protection off shore species including dorado and marlin is critical to the survival of the jobs and income that sport fishing brings to the region. The commercialization and exploitation of dorado and marlin under the Shark Norma and the 30% bycatch agreement will devastate the communities including Loreto that depend on sportfishing.

Rather than allow liquidation of the last fish stocks in the Sea of Cortez, I hope that the Shark Norma will be eliminated and that protections for reserved sport fish species will be restored including the 50 km limit for large commercial ships. I am a strong supporter of catch-and-release sportfishing as an alternative to destructive fisheries practices and am saddened to see the continued decline of the Sea of Cortez.

Sincerely,
Richard Nauman

New Alaska Flights to Loreto

Starting November 9 Alaska Air will be increasing the number of seats between LAX and Loreto. Flights on Sundays and Thursdays will be with the bigger 737-400s and Tuesdays and Fridays will be on the 70 seat Canada Air Regional Jets.

Maybe with the additional seats the prices will come down a little. The fares I have seen lately between LAX and LTO are about $450 round trip!

Yellow Fin Croaker

A recent scientific paper provides and interesting review of the Roncador (Yellowfin Croaker in English).

Demographic Parameters of Yellowfin Croaker, Umbrina Roncador (Perciformes: Sciaenidae), From the Southern California Bight

Check out my post from last July for a picture of a good sized Roncador

For those of you who are not into reading the whole article the sections most relevant to the fly angler include:

"A recent assessment of fishes just beyond the surf zone (5-14 m deep) found that yellowfin croaker was the most abundant species on the southern California mainland and third most abundant at Santa Catalina Island (Pondella and Allen 2000). Yellowfin croakers have a chin barbel and an inferior jaw typical of soft benthos foragers. Thus, it is not unexpected that previous investigators described this species as preferring shallow sandy substrates, embayments (Skogsberg 1939, Horn and Allen 1985), and especially the surf zone, and it has also been noted around rocks (Feder et al. 1974). Despite its relatively high density, widespread presence in the easily accessible nearshore environment, and importance in recreational fisheries, there is a paucity of life history information about this species."

"On average, yellowfin croaker were 101 mm SL during their first year and 170 mm SL during their second year. Growth began to slow in their third year (mean = 188 mm SL) as they became reproductive."

"The oldest specimens were two 15-yr-old males caught at Santa Barbara Island (13 June 2006; 395 mm SL) and Belmont Shores (28 February 1995; 313 mm SL). The largest yellowfin croaker (420 mm SL) was caught at Palos Verdes on 3 June 2003. This fish was 7 yr old. The tail had been eaten, and we estimate that the TL would have been 510 mm based on conversion equations in Table 1."

"Recruitment was not clearly correlated with SST (r = 0:535, P = :060) and has significantly declined since 1993 (r = 0:832, m = -412:8 +- 86:9, P = :0008)."

"Given that yellowfin croakers have a relatively high annual mortality rate (A = 0:45), individuals older than 15 yr are likely to be extremely rare; we found only five individuals older than 11 yr among the 1,209 fish in the study. As an evolutionary strategy, it appeared that rapid growth and early maturity were necessary to offset this relatively high mortality of both males and females."

"They occur in all nearshore subtidal habitats and are generally wary of scuba divers. Single yellowfin croaker can be observed regularly on cobble and soft-bottom areas near reefs during the night at Santa Catalina Island. They appear to be nocturnal foragers (Hobson et al. 1981), and anecdotal observations indicate that they may make forays into reef habitats."

"In warmer years and seasons, catch was greater near the surf zone, but during colder years the number of entrapped fish increased offshore, indicating that temperature may be one cue yellowfin croaker use for onshore/ offshore movement."

"With such dramatic variations in indicators of adult stock, juvenile recruitment, spatial distribution, and a reproductive strategy that may employ group spawning, we recommend a cautious management approach for this fishery species."

Turtle Mortality in Magdelena Bay

While it may seem strange to some that I post sea turtle conservation links on a fly fishing board, I think that there are important links between inshore fisheries and turtles in Baja California Sur. The same nets and long lines that kill turtles have severe impacts on the fisheries in mangrove lagoons and near shore waters. And besides sea turtles are cool, beautiful, interesting organisms and seeing them is always a highlight to any fishing trip and parth of the Baja experience.

Hoyt and company are doing great work and finding positive solutions that will help protect turtles and fisheries for the future.

Link to story

Study finds high mortality of endangered loggerhead sea turtles in Baja California

Along the southern coast of Baja California, Mexico, scientists have been counting the carcasses of endangered sea turtles for a decade as part of an effort to assess and eliminate threats to loggerhead sea turtle populations. Their findings, published this week, are shocking: almost 3,000 sea turtles were found dead along a 27-mile stretch of coast during a five-year period from 2003 to 2007.

Led by Hoyt Peckham, a graduate student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, the study underscores the enormous impact of bycatch (marine life accidentally killed by fishing operations) on sea turtles. Bycatch and, to a lesser degree, poaching are both significant threats to the survival of the endangered Pacific loggerhead sea turtle population, Peckham said.

"We saw what are apparently the highest documented stranding and fisheries bycatch rates in the world," he said. "But the high bycatch rates offer us all an unexpected conservation opportunity. By working with just a handful of fishermen to diminish their bycatch, we can save hundreds of turtles."

Peckham and his coauthors, whose findings appear in a special bycatch issue of Endangered Species Research, are working to increase awareness of the problems facing sea turtles in Baja California Sur. They hope this report will encourage Mexico's government agencies to finalize creation of a refuge that protects turtles and encourages sustainable fishing in the area.

"We have counted so many dead turtles. We have piles of data on thousands of carcasses. What we need now are conservation actions and viable solutions," said Wallace J. Nichols, research associate with the California Academy of Sciences and a coauthor of the paper.

The authors partnered with local fishermen not only to assess bycatch but also to increase awareness of its far-reaching effects and work toward ending the threat.

"Once they are aware of the ocean-wide impacts of their local bycatch, fishermen often strive to fish more cleanly by switching to different techniques, target species, or areas," Peckham said. "As a result, stranding rates were down in 2008."

In addition, local fishermen are working with the Mexican government to designate a sea turtle refuge that would officially protect an area the researchers identified as a "hotspot" of turtle bycatch.

Conservation tourism offers another potential solution to these problems by giving fishermen an alternative to dwindling, inefficient fisheries, Peckham said. Through training and a steady tourism market, many fishermen and former poachers have come to value sea turtles more highly alive than dead, because conducting tours can yield more income than fishing, he added. One organization that has promoted ecotourism in this area is the Ocean Conservancy through its SEE Turtles program. The program links travelers with critical sea turtle conservation sites so that vacation dollars can both protect the sea turtles and enhance the livelihood of community residents who protect them.

North Pacific loggerhead sea turtles travel more than 7,000 miles from Japan to Baja California Sur to feed and grow in nearshore waters, spending up to 30 years there before returning to Japan to breed. The number of nesting females in Japan has declined by 50 to 80 percent over the past 10 years, Peckham said.

In addition to Peckham and Nichols, the authors of the new study include Tim Tinker, adjunct professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCSC; David Maldonado Diaz and Alexander Gaos of Grupo Tortuguero, a nonprofit conservation group based in La Paz; and Volker Koch and Agnese Mancini of the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur.

More on Norbert

Here is some raw video footage from Puerto San Carlos shot by AP. As some of my readers know my house has been leveled not by a hurricane but by a bad cold that we all have. I'll post more on this storm as we feel better.

Norbert Hits Hard

Norbert was a fairly narrow storm. The part of the storm with hurricane force winds was only about 75 miles across. The Internet chatter sounds like the gringo communities in Mulege, Loreto, Todos Santos, etc... were largely spared. Unfortunately, the Sud Californiano is reporting massive damage in several communities.

The Sud Californiano reports that more than 90% of the homes in Puerto Alcatraz and Bahía Magdalena were destroyed - the paper used the verb "arrasar" meaning demolished, leveled, or flattened. More than 3,000 people are in shelters.

My young son just woke up so I have got to run but I'll post more later.

Two more boat busted in Loreto

While we wait for news on the effects of Hurricane Norbert I thought I would pass along more good news from Loreto Bay National Marine Park. The title of the article below roughly translates as "Operations of Profepa shows results". Profepa is the Mexican agency in charge of enforcing fish and wildlife laws.

According to the article two boats, one fishing with divers and harpoons and the other using nets near the islands, both in Loreto Bay National Marine Park, have been detained.


Dan resultados operativos que realiza la Profepa
El Sudcaliforniano
7 de octubre de 2008

Raúl Villalobos DavisLoreto, Baja California Sur.- Es muy importante reconocer que gracias al esfuerzo coordinado del personal de Profepa, Secretaría de Marina y PMNBL, en la realización de operativos de sobrevigilancia se están obteniendo excelentes resultados. Así lo dio a conocer el director del Parque Marino Nacional Bahía de Loreto, Everardo Mariano Meléndez, quien reconoció la excelente disposición tanto del personal de Profepa como de la Secretaría de Marina, para llevare a cabo esta labor de manera coordinada entre dichas dependencias.

Los resultados no se han hecho esperar, primeramente se detuvo una embarcación realizando actividades de pesca con arpón, y la semana pasada otra embarcación realizando actividades de pesca con redes de encierre en las costas de las islas.

La embarcación que fue sorprendida realizando dicha actividad lleva por nombre San Eusebio, con matrícula 0302473313-9, por lo cual fue retenida precautoriamente.

Las autoridades que llevaban a cabo dicho operativo levantaron las actas administrativas correspondientes ante los hechos en mención, para turnarlas ante quien corresponda con la finalidad de que se le dé el seguimiento legal a dicho trámite. Quedando la embarcación, artes de pesca y el producto bajo resguardo para que se continúe con las diligencias del caso y se determinen las sanciones correspondientes.

Stop the Shark Norma

Here is something you can do to help stop the Shark Norma and save the dorado and bill fish of the Sea of Cortez from the long line fleet.

Sea Watch - Make a Difference

A couple mouse clicks and a moment of your time will help make a difference!!!

Norbert Arrives

Hang on everyone!!!

According to the National Hurricane Center Hurricane Norbert has sustained winds of 105 mph with higher gusts. Ciudadad Constitution, Ciudad Insurgentes and smaller towns of the Municipo of Comondu don't really need this after all the flooding associated with Tropical Storm Lowell last month.

The flat lands of the Magdelena Plain are prone to flooding. After this storm it will be several days before the highway between La Paz and Loreto is open. The power station at Puerto San Carlos is right in the path of this storm so their may not be electricity for a while.

I'll post more information as I get it.

The Baja Big Fish Company web page will have Loreto information as soon as the power and Internet come back on.

Although it is a little south of the storm path the Telmex web cam in La Paz might have some interesting images in the morning.

¡Cuidado Amigos!

Hurricane Norbert

Here we go again! This one looks like it could get big. Currently a category 3 hurricane, Norbert is predicted to build to a category 4 and then weaken before making landfall. The predicted path has been steady for the last few days. Everyone between Abreojos/Mulege and Cabo San Lucas should monitor the situation and get ready. I'm adding a link to the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration's Hurricane Preparedness web page to my link list.

Shark Fishers Try to Reel in Cash - Turn to Conservation

The following article is from National Geographic News:

Lorne Matalon

September 30, 2008

Israel Ritchie, known as Tolon, is a 37-year-old shark fisher from López Mateos, Mexico.

His family has hunted sharks off the Pacific side of the Baja California peninsula for generations, selling the meat these days for around U.S. 70 cents a kilogram (2.2 pounds) and the shark fins for 50 to 100 U.S. dollars a kilogram.

But relying on shark for an income puts Tolon in a precarious place.

The highly prized fins usually end up in soup that can sell for as much as a hundred dollars a bowl in China, the U.S., and elsewhere.

Groups like Iemanya Oceanica say education is key to protecting Mexico's sharks.

They emphasize that sharks play a critical role in marine ecosystems, ensuring the long-term health and stability of fisheries and, in turn, economies.

Sharks are top predators, which means they maintain checks and balances on other species by feeding on sick or weak fish, seals, and other marine life. But sharks are slow to breed and are being overfished.

In the absence of sharks, populations of certain other species can mushroom, depleting some marine regions of resources needed to sustain ecosystem balance.

Tolon and 30 other fishers in his community are helping Iemanya Oceanica track the size and species of sharks in the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California, the two bodies of water divided by the Baja California peninsula.

They continue to hunt Galápagos, hammerhead, blue, and whalesharks, but make sure to release pregnant and young animals, Tolon said.

Iemanya Oceanica's executive director Laleh Mohajerani said involving fishing communities in research is an important conservation tool.

"What we want to do is give the fishers ownership over the management of their resources," said Mohajerani, whose work is funded in part by the National Geographic Society's Conservation Trust. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)

"By logging their catches, they see in an even more direct way how far the shark stocks have fallen."

"It has not been easy," she added. Some fishers are resistant to ending their harvest of sharks now for a possible payoff later.

Sustainable Economies

Peter Klimley, a shark expert based at the University of California, Davis, believes groups like Iemanya Oceanica can succeed if indigenous fishers start to see sharks as a renewable resource, and if certain areas become off-limits to fishing.

"What makes the decline so poignant is that there's so much interest in ecotourism to dive with them," said Klimley, who has received funding from the National Geographic Society's Expeditions Council for his own research on hammerhead sharks.

"We're in a transition where people are beginning to see these animals as something beautiful."

The economic transformation has worked in several Mexican seaside communities that used to rely on hunting sea turtles but have now switched to ecotourism.

Local shark fisher Tolon is hoping to set an example by diversifying his business.

"We hope to preserve our communities by doing this," Tolon added. "But we need help from our government to build an infrastructure for tourists—to convert our boats, build campgrounds, motels, and restaurants."

He'd also like to sell his catch directly to people in Mexico City.

"We'd make more money that way. But we haven't yet organized to do that."

Patrolling the Seas

Some species would benefit from being on government lists of protected species.

In 2007, for example, the Mexican government placed the great white shark on a list of protected species. It is now illegal to reel in the great white, once one of the fishers' prized catches because of its size.

But Klimley and Tolon agree that classification won't change the situation without patrols, similar to the way Mexico assigns patrols to protect sea turtles.

They recognize that patrolling beaches where female turtles spawn is a far easier task than sending naval patrols to protect the shark habitat in the waters that flank the Baja California peninsula.

Even so, Tolon said, "within five years, we'll have a disaster in the coastal communities without vigilance. We need those patrols. Without them, we'll soon be lost, in spite of the best efforts of those who are helping us."

New Bahia de Los Angeles Book

This great new reference is available on line:

Bahía de los Ángeles: recursos naturales y comunidad. Línea base 2007

This book provides detailed information on the geology, cultural history, and terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems of the area around Bahia de los Angeles. Chapters focused on whale sharks, fisheries data, sport fishing, and conservation are included.

Although it is written in Spanish, each chapter provides an abstract in English at the end and there are plenty of photos.