Longline Fishing: Is it a Threat to the Sea of Cortez?
We received an email from one of our concerned subscribers requesting
involvement from our readers. This is a sensitive issue here in Baja, as so
many try to eek out a living from the diminishing resources here in the Sea
of Cortez..
Because of our personal
commitment to worldwide conservation we encourage you to read this
information and visit the Sea Watch site and inform yourself and others as
to this environmental threat
Thank you for you support in this important issue. A copy of the email
message we need to send can be found below . Next step? Please forward this
information to 5 friends. Together we can amplify our message and make our
voices heard.
Longliners must
be prohibited in the Sea of Cortez
and a final decision is going to be made next week. To find out more about
longliners and new regulation proposals, visit Sea Watch's Shark
Norma overview page. shown below.
To contact Mexico's
government officials and to send letters to The Defenders of Wild Life just open
the "One
Click E-mails"
below. You can also open the background data pages below on the new shark norma
(regulation) and see for yourself the devastation it will bring to the already
over fished Sea of Cortez.
Thank
You, Sea Watch
Longline Position Threatens to Devastate Sea
of Cortez
New proposals by
CONAPESCA (Mexican Fisheries) and backed by US "Defenders of Wildlife" will
devastate the already overfished stocks of dorado, billfish, sharks and turtles
in the Sea of Cortez.
Juan Carlos Cantu the Mexican
representative of the United
States
based NGO, "Defenders of Wildlife" has worked out an agreement with the
commercial fishermen of Canainpesca that would allow longliners into the Sea Of Cortez.
Up to 200 longliners, 6000 miles of longline and 180,000 hooks could be in the Sea of Cortez on
any given day.
Conapesca (Mexican Fisheries) presented this proposal on 3/2/04 in
their new proposals to be included in the upcoming Shark Norma.
These
proposals must be stopped immediately! Please forward this information to all
concerned and have them follow up with letters and emails to Mexican officials
One
Click E-mail to Mexican officials] and letters and emails to "Defenders of
Wildlife" letting them know how much U.S. support they stand to lose if they
continue to back this indefensible and very destructive position [One
Click E-mail to Defenders of Wildlife]
No
this sign does not mean topless bar ahead! Topes are speed restricting
obstacles placed to slow traffic in populated areas. Along Highway 1 most of
the Topes give plenty of advanced warning, some more than 500m. The tricky
ones however, can be the second or third in a series, just when you think
it's safe to pick up the pace.
One
of the most devastating encounters I recall with a Tope was on my first drive
down Baja. Just past the long straightaway of the Santo Tomas vineyards my
co-pilot was frantically searching the Spanish/English dictionary. It was the
hope that TOPE meant some kind of specialty restaurant when our heads against
the roof of the car made the translation for us. As if that was not bad
enough, it was punctuated with the sounds of chassis and radiator against
pavement. It seemed no coincidence there was a radiator and transmission shop
within yards.
Just as a side note, I noticed that my infamous Tope had been mellowed and
rounded on my August drive. But beware! These guys can bite!
Insider
Notebook:
