Science Meeting in Loreto

This should be an interesting event. I hope to make it and maybe I'll see some of you there!

Applying Science to the Conservation and Management of Natural Resources throughout Northwest Mexico

May 25-27, 2011

Loreto, B.C.S.

The Ocean Foundation, in collaboration with a diverse collection of research institutions, government agencies and non-governmental organizations, cordially invites you to save the date for a conservation science symposium discussing the application of science to the conservation and management of natural resources throughout Northwest Mexico, to be held May 25 to 27, 2011 in Loreto, B.C.S., Mexico.

Through a series of oral and poster presentations, panel discussions, and workshops, we will explore marine and terrestrial issues, helping to define priorities for conservation throughout the region.

The topics of discussion will include some of today’s most pressing issues, such as:

• Climate change and its impacts on habitat and biodiversity,
• Freshwater quality, quantity, and alternative sources of water,
• Fisheries and coastal communities,
• Development, urbanization and the sustainable use of natural resources, and
• Natural protected areas, connectivity and biodiversity.

Participating Organizations and Institutions:
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Ayuntamiento de Loreto, California Academy of Sciences, Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste, Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas de México, Comunidad y Biodiversidad, A.C., Eco-Alianza de Loreto, A.C., Grupo Tortuguero de las Californias, A.C., Instituto Nacional de la Pesca de México, Laguna San Ignacio Ecosystem Science Project, ProEsteros, A.C., Pro Peninsula and The Ocean Foundation, Sociedad de Historia Natural Niparaja, A.C., The Nature Conservancy, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur.

Loreto Coastkeeper

Another great development from Loreto. There is now a Coastkeeper complete with a blog.

Everyone with an interest in the community and the fantastic sport fishing should support this effort.

Click http://www.ecoalianzaloreto.org/ and then hit the Make a Donation button. Its easy, fast, and is important.

If you need a little motivation go watch Rivers of a Lost Coast and see what we have already lost in Alta California.

La Pamela Reina de Pesca

Hey,

Here's something I have been waiting for. Pam from the Baja Big Fish Company is posting a blog about her fight to protect the fisheries of Baja California Sur.

El Moscero fully supports La Reina de Pesca's efforts. The only question is when does she sleep?

Those diputados better watch out - I hope they know what they are getting into.

Loreto Pride Campaign

The Loreto Bay National Park is seeking volunteers on Saturday, April 17th to help the park provide all Loretanos with the opportunity to know their park first-hand. As part of the park's Pride campaign promoting sustainable fisheries "Loretanos por un mar lleno de vida" the park will invite all Loretanos, many of whom have never had the opportunity to get out on the water, to enjoy a visit to Isla Coronado and/or kayaking and sailing from the malecon, FREE of charge.

In order to provide the service to the number of people we are expecting, we are reaching out to the community of park users seeking volunteers to help us provide boat service to the island, or to loan their kayaks, snorkel gear, life jackets or other essential equipment. We are also seeking a few more kayak guides who can help folks to paddle along the shore.

The free aquatic activities will take place from 8am – noon. We envision each boat trip to be approximately 90 minutes. Ideally, those donating their boats would make 2 or 3 of these tours mini Coronado trips during the 4-hour period. The more Loretanos enjoy their park, the more who will be interested in taking care of it.

Some basic information: the park will be responsible for organizing the people in small groups for each boat. A volunteer working with the park will be placed on each boat to share some basic information about the park with the passengers, and to help maintain order. Children under 13 will be required to be accompanied by an adult. All passengers will be required to wear life jackets for the duration of the tour. All passengers will be asked to sign a release form provided by the park prior to their tour. Passengers will be expected to carry their own water and snacks and to carry out garbage.

For more information, or to confirm your interest, please contact Cynthia Mayoral at cmayoral@rareconservation.org or 613-111-0510.

Reprinted from the Loreto Yahoo Group

Unification of Loreto and Baja California Sur for the Protection of the DORADO

From the Baja Nomads Board posted by Pam in Loreto:

Several months ago a fellow nomad posted a link to an article in spanish regarding the initiative of removing the Dorado from its protected status as per Art. 68 of the Ley Federal de la Pesca where the following species are reserved for sport fishing permits within 50 NM of the Mexican coastline:

Dorado, Billfish, Roosterfish, Tarpon

We are responding to this and if you can read Spanish here is the start of our campaign to be heard.

http://www.bajabigfish.com/cartaconfirmas

later late tonight I will be posting my experiences from the last four weeks on this issue. we are collaborating with Los Cabos, La Paz and Guaymas on this as well as across the border to the USA via Robin Wade of Western Outdoor News.

also when the guy who owns loreto.com gets his stuff together it will also be accessable here loreto.com/cartaconfirmas

I will include ways in which non Mexicans can support us in my report. We will need your support and once united we'll will be unstoppable. This might be that 2010 revolution they refer to. But this time it will happen through peaceful communication with the law on our side, and science and with an educated and enlightened public.

Viva el Dorado
Viva Mexico

Project Pangas

Pangas is not only the name of my favorite style of fishing boat it is also an acronym for Pesca Artesanal del Norte del Golfo de California – Ambiente y Sociedad.

This project looks great - it is a great model for action that could easily be replicated in the southern part of the Gulf of California.

Oro de Cortez Part 3

Oro de Cortez Part 2

Oro de Cortez Part 1

This video is fantastic - it clearly sums up the ongoing battle over fisheries management in the Sea of Cortez. Minerva Smith from Cabo San Lucas and Baja California Sur's Senator Coppala are great advocates for protecting this fantastic resource.

Pescadores Vigilantes

This article is from the Eco Alianza de Loreto's webpage. Its is great to see the Loreto sport fishing community organizing to protect the resources. While relatively new, Eco Alianza is making things happen.

Fisherman's Watch Group Formed in Loreto

On June 1, 2009, the foundation for “Pescadores Vigilantes” (vigilant fishermen) was established in Loreto, BCS. To address issues concerning conservation of the fishing industry and the National Marine Park, local commercial and sport fishermen were invited to a meeting sponsored by Eco-Alianza de Loreto. Participation was strong as over 100 responses were received by the organizers.

The meeting was held at Mediterraneo Restaurant to coincide with the celebration of Mariner’s Day. Laura Escobosa, the Director of Eco-Alianza, was introduced by Pam Bolles of Baja Big Fish, who expressed her thanks for organizing the event. The purpose of the evening was to communicate the need for the fisherman to work together to protect the sea and thus their livelihood. Fishing is one of the economic pillars in the community of Loreto, and protecting the sea must be seen as “good business” by everyone. The meeting was designed to create solutions that will insure the stability of the local industry.

Conservation regulations are in place in the Loreto National Marine Park, but there is little enforcement and insufficient resources to protect the area. Local fishermen complain of the fleets from Sinaloa that drain the resource without permit or conscience, but there seems to be no one to stop them. Loretano commercial and sport fishers pay fees and licenses that are not charged to those from outside areas. American sport fishers are often overloaded with guests - and fish without permits that local charter companies are required to purchase. The system is unjust and not well managed.

Pescadores Vigilantes is designed to address these issues. Acting as one, instead of isolated voices, is it hoped the local fisherman will be able to increase the weight of their ideas and establish a more powerful position in the future of their industry.

At the heart of the formation of the group is a vehicle for reporting illegal activities. One of the previous stumbling blocks has been a fear of identification and possible retribution, but hannels are now in place to provide complete anonymity. Fishermen can make a simple phone call or visit the office of Eco-Alianza to report illegal activities, with complete assurance that their names will never be revealed.

Protection of the Park and its resources is everyone’s responsibility – those who live in Loreto and those who visit. But it is the fishermen, who are on the water daily, who must assume a leadership role.

The Park and all its beauty cannot defend itself against human intrusion as evironmental abuses such as dumping of trash, oils, paints and other waste products – both at sea and on land – threaten the health of the marine life. As the sea becomes over-fished and polluted, the ecosystem will collapse, and the economic effects on Loreto will be devastating.

To further support the Pescadores Vigilantes, Eco-Alianza pledged to develop a clearly delineated map of fishing zones and no-take areas, plus produce a simple version of current regulations and guidelines inside the park, using information from the recently generated “Ordenamiento Pesquero”.

The meeting provided an opportunity for the fisherman to share their ideas and develop an on-going dialog. Ms. Escobosa sat with several of the attendees after her presentation, and listened to their questions and suggestions.

They expressed a willingness to help with surveillance, but more than that, they wanted their voices to be taken into consideration when decisions about the future of Loreto are made. As fishermen, they understand their importance to the tourist economy.

Some of their other ideas included having a booth at the Marina open from 6 AM to 6 PM where visitors could purchase FONMAR fishing licenses and CONANP bracelets. Currently, nothing is available until after 9 AM.

There was an extended conversation about limiting the number of fishing permits that are available. If the number were fixed, that would limit outside fishing interests from taking from the park. Permits could then be sold or inherited by relatives. This is a technique that has been proven to work as a conservation tool in Canada and Alaska.

Some of the fishermen in attendance included: Loreto Velis Murillo, Alejandro Davis, Victor Manuel Villalejo, Ramon Mayoral Baeza, José Luis Davis Meza, and Octavio Acosta.

It is hoped that different leaders in the community will emerge after the event, and that strategies can be developed to strengthen the fishing sector. A follow up meeting is planned in three months.

Baja Sur's Senators Fight to Protect Sportfishing

Mexico's Senators Applaud TBF's Efforts on Sportfishing/Conservation Bill; Continue to face strong opposition from commercial fishing lobbyists

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – Though backed with a stronger sportfishing/conservation bill currently on the Senate floor in Mexico City that would close major loopholes in the current law, its proponents now face opposition from political and commercial fishing interests pushing legislation to open the dorado fishery more.

For over two decades dorado (also called dolphinfish, mahi-mahi or goldmakrele) along with billfish (striped marlin, sailfish, etc.), tarpon and roosterfish have been regulated as sport fish in Mexican waters. But a controversial directive, 15 NOM-029 also known as "Shark Norma," authorized by Mexico's fisheries agency CONAPESCA in May 2008, allows for the "incidental" harvest of billfish, dorado and other species within Mexico's conservation zones. The area has long attracted the illegal fishing interests in the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California) waters and Pacific Ocean coasts and tons of illegal dorado shipments into the United States.

Based on a multi-year socio-economic study by The Billfish Foundation (TBF), the new conservation bill was introduced by Senators Luis Alberto Coppola Joffroy and Humberto Andrade Quezada with endorsements by Sen. Jaime Rafael Díaz Ochoa, Sen. Luis Fernando Rodríguez Lomelí and Sen. Emma Lucía Larios Gaxiola. In March it received unanimous support by the Congress of the Mexican State of Baja California Sur (BCS).

But members of Mexico's PRD (Party of Democratic Revolution) political faction countered by introducing an initiative to allow dorado to be harvested by commercial fishermen contrary to the law that regulates dorado, billfish and other species as sport fish only.

In turn Coppola and Andrade, both members of the conservative National Action Party (PAN) brought to the Senate floor in May a proposed "agreement with arguments" against the dorado commercial fishery. It too received the Senate's full support in late May.

For both of their conservation initiatives the senators used TBF's study that revealed sportfishing tourism added over $630 million dollars annually directly to the BCS economy.

Study: 24,000 jobs created in Los Cabos region; one billion dollars in economic activity

The study led by TBF Science Director Dr. Russell Nelson and Rob Southwick, Southwick & Associations, Inc., revealed 354,013 people fished in Los Cabos in 2007, most all of them international visitors spending an estimated $633.6 million (U.S.) dollars for lodging, charter boats, food, transportation, tackle, fuel and more. Positive cascading economic effects in the local economy included the creation of 24,426 jobs, $245.5 million (U.S.) in local and federal tax revenues, and $1.125 billion (U.S.) in total economic activity. Visitors who fish there provided an estimated 24.1 percent of the total Los Cabos economy the report disclosed.

Specific waters includes the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coasts 50 miles out and an additional large area off Cabo that extends about 150 miles north and south and 100 miles out from the coast. Coppola's bill would clearly eliminate the commercial market's sale and the possibility of any bycatch exceptions for billfish, dorado, tarpon and roosterfish protected by the existing conservation zones.

Original bill may sit through the summer

But that bill will likely sit until after a summer-long recess in August, when the three year terms of the PRD's lame-duck congressmen end and the new congressmen's terms begin.

"Before the 'war' can be won, i.e. the passage of the Coppola's bill for sportfishing and conservation, he must wait for the 'battle' to be won," characterized Guillermo Alvarez, TBF's Mexican conservation director, of the situation. "We hope over the summer Senators Coppola and Andrade can gain even more support among other lawmakers in the 31 states of Mexico."

In a letter thanking TBF President Ellen Peel, a spokesman for the two senators wrote, "Mexico can not afford to divert from its sport fish conservation tradition and we will not tolerate this (commercial harvesting of dorado, etc.) to happen."

"In difficult times - as we are going through because of the influenza outbreak - competitiveness lies on sportfishing as TBF's economic research shows," stated Joel Macias de Lara who coordinates the senator's advisory group.

Wire service reports in late May announced Mexico was spending $90 million to attract tourists after the severe fallout of visitors led by the news on the country's flu epidemic. Because of the flu Los Cabos saw several major tournaments postponed or cancelled.

"TBF's recent socio-economic study in the Baja Sur region of the country makes clear that billfishing is an important economic stimulus to the nation, therefore billfish, dorado and other species important to anglers should be protected," said Ms. Peel.

"The Billfish Foundation applauds Senator Coppola for his two current initiatives now in Congress. He once again is demonstrating his strong commitment to good conservation and a strong economy. Senator Coppola understands that good conservation pays. Many areas in Mexico are famous and were economically strong not too long ago because of sportfishing. But if the fish important to sportfishing are allowed to be sold, then anglers and their dollars will go to other nations to fish. TBF urges the Senate to join forces with Coppola for the good of the country, its economy, the fish and the ocean."

To read Senator Coppola's bill and proposal in Spanish, please click here. A translated English version will be posted upon completion. Please click here to read a letter thanking TBF's efforts.

This article is from the Billfish Foundation

Leopard Grouper in Loreto

With the start of the management plan revision for Loreto Bay National Park I thought it would be good to post a link to this important paper on Leopard Grouper:

Viability Analysis of Reef Fish Populations Based on Limited Demographic Information

Despite the title this relatively straight forward scientific paper documents the condition of Leopard Grouper in Loreto Bay National Park. While the populations of fast growing, migratory, yellowtail, dorado, and sailfish appear to be maintaining decent populations and produce outstanding sport fishing opportunities, the inshore reef dwelling fish are vulnerable to sport fishing and are devastated by netting.

The new management plan needs to protect Leopard Grouper and other depressed populations from consumptive use. Its a perfect opportunity to experiment with no-take catch and release areas to provide for continued sport fishing - the economic base of Loreto, while rebuilding populations. Obviously, elimination of inshore gill netting in these depressed populations is key to preventing further declines.

More on Loreto Management Plan

Pam from the Baja Big Fish Company provides the following information from Loreto Bay National Park regarding the planning process:

The following is an invite to the conservation sector of the park management plan revisions:

I hereby send you greetings. We write for two reasons: first, to present the final report of the first phase of consultation which is a "map" of the actors and relevant issues regarding the general objective of the Loreto Bay National Park.

The second reason is to invite you to participate in the second phase of the participatory process of the parks revision management plan. To begin, it consists of the first CONSERVATION sector reunion. The meeting is to review the Management Program of Loreto Bay National Park and will be held on Saturday May 16, from 9 am to 3 PM at the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California Sur Campus Loreto (Paseo Pedro Ugarte s / n Col. Missionaries zip code 23880) and we want you to join us for making this process an enriched one.

The objectives of the meeting are:

1. Validate the document with the actors
2. Obtain more proposals in order to elaborate the new management program
3. Begin to explore a possible representative for the whole Conservation sector.

After the first reunion, we will resort to a technical committee in order to present our CONSERVATION opinion on the legal and technical feasibility of the proposals that emerge from the sectorial meeting.

After the participatory process, a second sectorial meeting will be held in June where we will resume the results given by the technical committee, the proposals will be further reviewed, and we will start introducing the negotiation process. The third phase of the process has a negotiation workshop and a plenary session in July where all the sector proposals will be presented together. The last phase is a final plenary meeting in September where we intend to reach a final agreement for the new management program that will be used in the next five years.

For us and for the success of the process is very important to have your valuable presence at all stages and we hope to confirm your attendance at the first sectorial meeting in May. Please contact us for any information. Telephone: Mexico, 55 5286 6440, Loreto, 613 135 0477.

Email: lina@sociosmexico.org,
jportilla@colaboracioncivica.org,
emariano@conanp.gob.mx.

Thanks.

****************

These meetings are open to the public including visitors and foreign residents.

The sector meeting for commercial fishing is from 9am to 3pm at UABCS Loreto on thursday May 14th

The sector meeting for the sport fishing is from 9am to 3pm at UABCS Loreto on Friday May 15th.

Again the second phase of sector meetings will be in June. The final plan will be in place January 2010.

Take Marlin off the Menu

The Take Marlin off the Menu campaign's webpage posses the question:

If you saw lion or tiger for sale in a restaurant or grocery store would you buy it?

The obvious answer for most people would be no. Its time to start thinking of marlin in the same way. Populations of these magnificent top predators are depleted by overfishing, deserve protection, and contain high levels of toxic mercury. It's time to get them off the menu.

Fortunately, the International Game Fish Association, the National Coalition for Marine Conservation, and the Billfish Foundation have teemed up to create this new campaign:

Take Marlin off the Menu

How you can help

Lets do our part and ensure healthy marlin populations for the future!

Good news From BCS State Congress

Study by The Billfish Foundation used as basis to reinforce Mexico's fishing laws

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla, USA — A move to strengthen fishing and conservation laws in Mexico's waters gained major support by all political parties late last week in a vote by members of the Congress of the Mexican State of Baja California Sur (BCS).

Backed by a socio-economic study from The Billfish Foundation, the BCS members voted unanimously to take a position of support for federal legislation to toughen commercial fishing laws through a bill recently introduced by Senators Luis Alberto Coppola Joffroy and Humberto Andrade Quezada.

The action among the members was remarkable in that it marks the first unification across political party lines to support this conservation effort that would protect its economically rich sport fisheries, especially in the Los Cabos region of the BCS.

The bill would clearly eliminate the commercial market's sale and the possibility of any bycatch exceptions for billfish, dorado, tarpon and roosterfish protected for sportfishing by existing 50 mile conservation zones.

To support their legislation Joffroy and Quezada used documents which cited results of TBF's study released last fall that revealed sportfishing tourism to be adding over $630 million dollars annually directly to the BCS economy.

The TBF study showed in 2007, 354,013 people, most all of them international visitors, fished in Los Cabos. While there they spent an estimated $633.6 million dollars for lodging, charter boats, food, transportation, tackle, fuel, and more. These expenditures started a series of positive cascading economic effects in the local economy which included the creation of 24,426 jobs, $245.5 U.S. million in local and federal tax revenues, and $1.125 U.S. billion in total economic activity.

Visitors who fish there provided an estimated 24.1 percent of the total Los Cabos economy the report disclosed.

The legislative action is particularly significant in light of the fact that the BCS Governor has not been supportive of strong conservation initiatives and the BCS Congress is dominated by members of the PRD party (Party of Democratic Revolution). Coppola and Andrade are in the conservative National Action Party (PAN).

"TBF is greatly encouraged by this demonstration of strong bipartisan support for these important billfish conservation efforts in Mexico," said its Chairman John Brownlee, "and we are pleased that our research has demonstrated how good conservation and sportfishing opportunities can bring new wealth and sustainable job opportunities to all of Mexico's coastal communities."

Senator Coppola said he was pleased that all parties at the local BCS State Congress are now endorsing his initiative which speaks of how much impact the evaluation by TBF of the economic importance to Los Cabos and BCS had on the Senate." But the solidarity in the BCS may need to be carried even further.

The Senate legislation supported by Coppola and Andrade faces some opposition in the form of an alternative proposal, supported by commercial fishing interests that would provide complete protection to these resources in the waters off of BCS while allowing expanded commercial harvest in the rest of Mexico.

"The idea of protecting highly migratory billfish off Los Cabos and killing them elsewhere along Mexico's coastline is not supported by any biological or economic data," TBF scientist Dr. Russell Nelson explained. "Fish killed off Acapulco will forever be lost to the Los Cabos fishery. We have developed a bioeconomic model that shows this action would create losses of over $425 million a year and 18,000 jobs to the BCS economy and far greater economic losses to Mexico as a whole." The specific waters for the Coppola/Andrade action before the Mexican legislature includes the Pacific and Atlantic/Gulf of Mexico coasts 50 miles out and an additional large area off Cabo that extends about 150 miles north and south and 100 miles out from the coast.

Nelson said hopefully this legislature will close any loopholes. Recent attempts by Mexico's fisheries agency, CONAPESCA, to establish liberal by-catch allowances for billfish, dorado and other species have drawn sharp criticism from sportfishing and conservation organizations.

The area has long attracted the illegal fishing interests in the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California) waters and Pacific Ocean coasts and illegal shipments into the United States.

Intentionally mislabeled, multiple tons of the illegal dorado catches, have crossed into the United States by semi-tractor trailer trucks through Arizona (Nogales) and California (Tijuana).

"This destructively affects fishing resources and the millions in tourist dollars that also support sport fishing such as catch-and-release for striped marlin in the region," said Nelson.

Nelson concluded, "We need to unite behind the fact-based legislation introduced by Senators Coppola and Andrade and supported by many others from all political parties and create a future where the economic development potential generated by good conservation policies and sport fishing tourism can benefit all the people of Mexico."

From espn.com

Backcountry Hunters and Anglers

OK - its not about Baja but Back Country Hunters and Anglers in a fantastic organization protecting our quality opportunities to hunt and fish here in the USA. Check out their new video and consider joining.

Positive Developments in the Northern Sea of Cortez

This press release details some of the efforts in the Northern portion of the Sea of Cortez to reduce impacts to the critically endangered Vaquita. These tiny porpoises (less than 5 feet long) are only found in the upper Sea of Cortez and fewer than 600 remain - some estimates place the total population at slightly over 200 (vaquita.org). Efforts to protect them should have added benefits of rebuilding fisheries in the region.

Mexico Works to Protect Endangered Sea of Cortez Porpoise
Monday, December 29, 2008
Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources

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.

Action Mexican Senate

Sorry, I've been a little busy this month and haven't had time to post. Hopefully, I can get more desitination and how-to stuff up early next year.

This article was posted on the ESPN webpage on December 10, 2008.

Billfish Foundation Study Generates Action in the Mexican Senate

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A recently released economic study commissioned by The Billfish Foundation (TBF) on the billion dollar-plus annual impact sport fishing brings to Mexico's greater Cabo San Lucas/Los Cabos region, has caught the keen attention and responsive actions of two of Mexico's senators.

Citing TBF's research on the value of sport fishing to the economy of Baja California Sur and all of Mexico, Senators Luis Coppola Joffroy and Humberto Andrade Quezada have placed upon the floor of the Mexican Senate an ambitious effort to utilize sport fishing as an economic development tool for all of coastal Mexico.

Of immediate importance is a proposal to amend Mexico's national fisheries law to specifically state that marlins, sailfish, swordfish, rooster fish and dorado are to be used exclusively for sport fishing and that these species may not be sold, even if taken as by-catch by commercial fisheries. Recent attempts by Mexico's fisheries agency, CONAPESCA, to establish liberal by-catch allowances for billfish, dorado and other species have drawn sharp criticism from sportfishing and conservation organizations.

"Once passed into law this clarifying language should prevent bureaucrats in CONAPESCA from ever again tampering with Mexico's historically profound sportfishing conservation regime," said Dr. Russell Nelson, TBF's chief scientist. The action was based off the comprehensive 126-page research study conducted in 2007 and 2008 to estimate the dollars, jobs and tax revenues created by anglers focusing on Baja Sur's "sport fishing triangle" showing the enormous effect sport fishing tourism brings to the area. The region includes the Los Cabos communities of East Cape, San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, all once small fishing locales.

In recent years, the region has become a major North American tourist destination driven heavily by its world-class striped marlin fishery. In turn, sport fishing has also become a major provider of jobs — over 24,000 — and has brought a huge revenue stream of dollars into Mexico's economy.

Nelson, along with Guillermo Alvarez, TBF's Mexican conservation director said information was needed to communicate the importance of the Los Cabos fisheries to its local, state and national leaders.

Headquartered in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., The Billfish Foundation works with governments worldwide advancing the conservation of billfish and associated species to improve the health of oceans and regional economies. It has been assisting in the Baja Sur region since 2002.
Besides Mexico's state and federal government officials, TBF President Ellen Peel said the report was distributed to industry and academic interests in Mexico as well. The results will also be presented before the national Chamber of Commerce in Mexico City in January.

The study showed in 2007, 354,013 people, most all of them international visitors, fished in Los Cabos. While there they spent an estimated $633.6 million dollars for lodging, charter boats, food, transportation, tackle, fuel, and more. These expenditures started a series of cascading economic effects in the local economy, creating: 24,426 jobs, $245.5 U.S. million in local and federal tax revenues, and $1.125 U.S. billion in total economic activity.

Additional benefits accrued were Los Cabos angler expenditures generating an added $145 U.S. million to Mexico's Gross Domestic Product; 10,469 additional jobs created elsewhere in Mexico and $75 U.S. million in taxes added to the federal coffers.

But the area has long attracted the interests of Mexico's "fishing mafia," and illegal foreign commercial long-liners and netters in the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California) waters and Pacific Ocean coasts.

Nelson said 88 percent of international anglers who have fished in Cabo said they would be less likely to return if they knew the commercial harvest of billfish increased.

The report revealed the most targeted species of interest for sport fishermen were dorado (also known as dolphinfish and mahi-mahi) registering nearly 95 percent with a success catch rate of over 81 percent. Marlin were second at nearly 90 percent with a success rate of over 82 percent and tuna were the third most popular at over 86 percent with a 75 percent success rate among the 10 species listed.

Juvenile dorado and tuna are also part of the food chain for the migrating billfish. The dorado, a species that under Mexican fisheries law is supposed to be strictly relegated for sport fishing, has for years attracted the interests of illegal commercial fishing. A highly controversial new regulation — NOM-029 — allows for the "incidental" harvest of billfish, dorado and other species within Mexico's 24 year-old conservation zones.

Recent seizures of illegal dorado catches in double digit tonnage have also produced headlines in Mexican newspapers and attention to its commercial fishing mafia.

Multiple tons of the illegal dorado catches, intentionally mislabeled, have crossed into the United States by semi-tractor trailer trucks through Arizona (Nogales) and California (Tijuana).
"This destructively affects fishing resources and the millions in tourist dollars that also support sport fishing such as catch-and-release for striped marlin in the region," said Nelson.

"This has been an up-and-down year for TBF in Mexico," said Ms. Peel," but we have ended 2008 with a huge success. Dr. Nelson's work with our economic study and Alvarez's commitment to unyielding advocacy before the Mexican government has turned the tide."

"Senators Coppola and Andrade should be hailed as true leaders in Mexico as they both clearly see that promoting sustainable development based on carefully managed sport fishing tourism is an economic and ecological win-win situation for that nation," emphasized Peel. "These two men are fighting for the region's life blood that is within the marine waters of the region — to destroy this resource would be economic suicide to thousands of jobs in Mexico."

The Cabo research study was produced by Southwick Associates, Inc. of Fernandina Beach, Fla., Nelson Resources Consulting, Inc. of Oakland Park, Fla. and Firmus Consulting of Mexico City, Mexico.

Marketing Baja

Here's a photo of the Beach at Coronado Island one of my favorite spots in Loreto Bay National Marine Park. The shallows that stretch from this beach over to the mainland can hold rooster fish and I have done well along this reef before but have also found plenty of nets here as well. There always seems to be something around at least a few barracuda or giant needlefish.

In continuation of my last post, I wanted to connect the articles on the poor tourist season in Loreto and the continued promises of the vultures bent on turning every beach into yet another "luxury" development. Forgive, my rant but I was heart broken to hear that a few of the timeshare sales people have migrated north from Cabo San Lucas and infected Loreto.

Check out this Baja Nomands forum for some of the ongoing discussion regarding the Mission Hotel. This cool hotel on the water front has been sitting abandoned and thrashed since the mid-1990s. Its a great spot, with the exception of the all night parties on the malecon on weekends, and I've always thought it could be great once again.

I copied this picture from the Baja Nomad Forum taken by Don Alley earlier this month.

The slick La Mission webpage says "Grand Opening November 2008" - you can even make reservations for next week!

Here's what it looks like on the their webpage:

So now in quiet little Loreto we have:

• annoying timeshare sales on the streets and in restaurants
• the failed promises of the Loreto Bay development
• word of large exclusive developments planned at San Bruno
• the beach closed off at Ensanada Blanca
• more marketing talking about sustainability in a place with limited fresh water
• and much, much more - San Basillo? Agua Verde? Conception Bay?

And here's the link that set me off to finally begin writing about this subject:

JW Marriott First Residential Development Comes to Baja, Mexico

Does this sound like a recipe for success? Loreto is an anglers town. No matter how many slick artist's renderings and fancy web pages are produced you can't change the fact that its hard to get to, there is limited water, the cold north wind blows all winter long, and in the summer its stifling with desert heat and Sea of Cortez humidity.

More to come...

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.