By sscssite2017, Sea
Shepherd Conservation Society
January 2018
Within an hour, the illegal net was fully recovered on the bow of the Sea Shepherd ship, with the totoaba disentangled and set free by the volunteer crew.
Rescuing a Totoaba
Despite gunshots being fired at its drone again, conservation group Sea
Shepherd, together with the Mexican Navy, drove poachers off the protected
vaquita refuge and saved the life of an endangered totoaba fish from their
illegal nets.
This was the second shoot-out, and the first in daylight, directed at Sea
Shepherd in the Upper Gulf of California, Mexico, in less than a week.
The first incident, which occurred on Christmas Eve, poachers shot down the
conservationists’ night vision drone. The NGO is currently in the area for
Operation Milagro IV, where it is actively protecting the totoaba bass and
the near-extinct vaquita porpoise.
On December 30th, 2017, the Sea Shepherd vessel, M/V John Paul DeJoria, was
patrolling for poachers and gillnets within the vaquita refuge. At 15:30,
the crew identified a poaching skiff through binoculars, visibly pulling up
a net less than one nautical mile away.
Even though its night drone was shot down by an automatic rifle six days
earlier, Sea Shepherd still sent another drone to investigate the poacher’s
activity from above. The drone team quickly confirmed the crew’s initial
assessment: poachers were pulling out a gillnet in the middle of the vaquita
refuge in broad daylight.
Poachers are targeting the critically endangered totoaba fish to sell its
swim bladder on the black market in China and Hong Kong for unproven
medicinal properties. One swim bladder can collect more than U$20,000. For
that reason, the fish is commonly referred to as “aquatic cocaine.”
Poachers may set these gillnets to catch one species, but the nets don’t
discriminate, catching all that swims in these waters including the most
endangered marine mammal in the world – the vaquita porpoise.
With clear skies overhead, it didn’t take long for the poachers to spot the
drone above them. The Sea Shepherd crew heard six gunshots from the bow of
the marine conservation’s vessel. When drone operator Jack Hutton saw the
poachers pull the net into their skiff before taking off, he made the
decision to fly the drone back to the ship. Footage from the incident shows
that one of the individuals in the skiff had a handgun and used it.
Captain Benoit Sandjian informed the Mexican Navy of the situation and they
arrived shortly on the scene. After checking that the Sea Shepherd vessel
was safe, the Navy began to pursue the poachers’ skiff.
In the meantime, the M/V John Paul DeJoria headed towards the location
coordinates where the poachers briefly stopped during their escape. Once
there, the crew discovered a totoaba net with a live adult totoaba,
struggling for its life.
Mexican Navy speed boat
Within an hour, the illegal net was fully recovered on the bow of the Sea
Shepherd ship, with the totoaba disentangled and set free by the volunteer
crew.
Without Sea Shepherd’s intervention, the trapped totoaba would have been a
lucrative catch for poachers, and a significant loss for this critically
endangered species.
“This developing sequence of events makes it appear as though poachers are
now carrying firearms in the Upper Gulf of California,” said Captain Benoit.
“They are not hesitating to make use of them, in close proximity to our
vessel, be it day or night. Sea Shepherd has been facing threats from
poachers over the last few years during Operation Milagro but we are now
observing a new level of violence in this area”.
Despite the difficulties to protect the vaquita porpoise and totoaba fish,
Mexican authorities continue to take a strong stance on conservation. With
less than 30 vaquita in existence, the Mexican government has showed the
world they are not willing to let this species go extinct, and are working
with various groups, including partnering with Sea Shepherd to remove
illegal gillnets and patrol for poachers.
Sea Shepherd currently has two vessels in the area, with a third on the way.
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