HOW CAN YOU HELP SAVE LORETO'S FISHERY? Investigate and support Eco Alianza Loreto. We are heavily involved with Eco Alianza Loreto in terms of using their expertise in gaining a voice for our local sport fishing industry among other issues. Eco Alianza is assisting in getting FONMAR presence here and in performing studies which will convince the federal and state governments to keep funds generated by the sales of permits sold in Loreto from leaving Loreto. In addition to this, Eco alianza has placed much needed pressure on the marine park to enforce the regulations. An example of this are the two most recent reports on illegal commercial fishing activity mentioned below this report. Buy your fishing licenses directly through your Baja California Sur (BCS) fishing outfitter who will guarantee that the funds will go to the state of BCS. Only in the state of BCS so we have the option to purchase our Mexican sportfishing licenses at the State Finance Office and not directly via the federal government's fund (CONAPESCA). What's great about this is that the funds from licenses bought in the state STAY IN THE STATE. Right now the monies paid to the state are going toward a fund called FONMAR which is usually used for marine conservation and education but now it is being used to legally overturn NOM 029, the Shark Norma. So as much as we may love those travel clubs like Vagabundos del Mar and Discover Baja, and as much as it may be more convienent to purchase your license through these services, the fact is that the money for licenses paid this way stays with the feds who invent seriously stupid laws like NOM 029. Buy your fishing license though your local outfitter in BCS and your money will go towards preserving the Sea of Cortez fishery for the future. Do NOT buy it stateside because that money you work so hard for will go right to the feds who are in the back pocket of the commercial fishing industry. ILLEGAL COMMERCIAL FISHING ACTIVITY: this concerns Baja in general but focuses on Loreto 30 June, 2009; Loreto, BCS, San Bruno shorelines and the Loreto Marine Park's northern boundry- Complaints and calls for help on VHF 16 directed to the Loreto Marine Park, PROFEPA, PESCA, CONAPESCA, the and Port Captain, went ignored this morning. The first calls started at 10:00 a.m. and a response will still being mustered at 14:00. The Maria Rosana, a 61 foot tuna seiner built for Pacific waters and based out of Ensenada, Baja California (about 100 miles South of San Diego) was back fishing our waters along with two other seiners of comparable size were setting their nets just North of the Loreto Marine Park and only within a few hundred meters from the shorelines at San Bruno. Supposedly their target is Bonito, Skipjack and Tuna but since we haven't got any Yellowfin Tuna off our shores at the moment we can only assume that their target was the Bonito and Skipjack. Who knows what they do with them as neither species are good eating fish. Are they being canned and sold as canned tuna? Are they being processed and used as cat food, or to feed the Bluefin Tuna in the tuna pens in the Bay of Todos Santos at Ensenada, B.N.? All interesting questions. This kind of activity although it may be condoned by the Mexican government now must be controlled in the near future. Pescadores Vigilantes is working toward this goal. 9 June, 2009; Loreto, BCS- The Maria Rosana, a 61 foot tuna seiner built for Pacific waters and based out of Ensenada, Baja California (about 100 miles South of San Diego) was seen netting a reported 2-3 miles of the northern coast of Isla Coronado. Isla Coronado is one of the five islands composing the Bay of Loreto National Marine Park. The islands of the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) are a UNESCO World Heritage Alliance designated natural site. Ironically a World Heritage Alliance meeting was held in Loreto the previous day, then this! I was considering participating until I realized the hypocracy of it all. This particular boat was reported to me personally via cell phone at 11:15 a.m. after several minutes of distress calls to the Marine Park on channel 16 that received no response. To make a long story short, the Marine Park responded with their one boat the Danzante at 12:52 p.m. By the time they got to the Maria Rosana she was well outside of the restricted zone. Even more ironic was the fact that this seiner was working so closely to the shoreline of Isla Coronado and surrounding shorelines when this boat's log book stated that they were never nearer than nine miles of the any shoreline or the park boundry. Our photographs show otherwise. WARNING! The images you are about to see below are extremely outrageous, caution is recommended prior to viewing. These images and others like them will help our case against this boat and hopefully will serve as a warning to others that Loretanos won't stand for it anymore. But we need YOUR help! Consider these points when viewing the following images: Even though you may still exercise your right to volontarily boycott a product that goes against your personal philosophy there are forces working against allowing you to make informed decisions like this in the future- "Mexico Tries to Crush US "Dolphin Safe" Tuna Label Via WTO". According to the website DolphinSafe.org, there are no companies in Mexico that participate in The Earth Island Institute's Approved Dolphin-Safe Tuna Processing Companies & Fishing Companies from MEXICO! Popular dolphin unsafe brands like TUNY and DOLORES are widely distributed throughout Mexico and are found in some stores in the USA. Residents of Mexico should boycott canned Tuna products AND put pressure on these companies and CONAPESCA to reconsider their antiquated ways of doing business. The World Trade Organization and Mexico's virulent tuna fleet are threatening a deadly blow for the Dolphin Safe tuna label and current U.S. laws. June 9, 2009: seiner working nearer to shore than 9 miles. June 9, 2009: Isla Coronado appears to be closer than 9 miles away from this working 61 foot Pacific seiner from Ensenada. June 9, 2009: close up of the seiner. June 9, 2009: close up of the seiner. June 9, 2009: close up of the seiner. June 9, 2009: close up of the seiner. June 9, 2009: close up of the seiner. June 9, 2009: close up of the seiner. June 9, 2009: close up of the seiner. So what can YOU do? If you are visiting or if you live here please be observent, and courteous and follow all safety rules. All reporting is anonymous. Here are tips on taking photographic or video evidence: Please remember that you cannot go within 250 meters of a working commercial boat. So please keep your proper distance. The photographs we have here are part of a series that was taken by a local professional photographer. How lucky for us, and how unlucky for the Maria Rosana! Please make sure you include land marks that can be identified such as mountain peaks, reefs, rock formations, etc. We need to reference the land in the background of the subject in order to determine its position. Believe me these captains can do it! Also include description of the activity, date, time and location (GPS if possible, photograph the display). Don't be discouraged! It will take time to build a strong case against these kinds of activities and eventually change the laws. We are interested in protecting the fisheries for future generations. Our continuing log of reports will increase in size and add necessary data and build an overwhelming argument in our favor. It will take years but it will happen. To local resident marine park users who attended the English language Park meeting on Friday June 12th: There's a reason why the photographer took these images. Because he thought this boat was violating the law. Turns out he may be right. As you may see from photographic evidence presented above this large boat was less than 9 miles from the shoreline of Isla Coronado on June 9th 2009. This boat was boarded at approximately 1:30 p.m. outside the boundries of the Bay of Loreto Marine Park and beyond the restricted zone reserved only for sport fishing for a boat this size. The fish holds were all checked and the product that was extracrted was determined to be legal. The boat had all the proper paperwork and the scientific monotor onboard verified according to their personal log book that they were never within nine miles of the coast line at any time that day. In addition to this their GPS navigation program shows their route for the day as described. So we were told the boat was legally working, it was out of the park, and that was that, nothing further. Well we're not going to let this die. We now have photographic evidence that the scientific observer was taking a siesta at some point on Tuesday morning and or their GPS tracking report program has been tampered with. These photographs are incriminating because they show a boat seining black skipjack about 3 miles off Isla Coronado. And they didn't even get a very good haul either! BUSTED! 6 May, 2009; Loreto, BCS- A translation of this Spanish report follows: FECHA: 06 DE MAYO DE 2009, SE ENCONTRO UNA RED , TIPO CHINCHORRO DE MULTILILAMENTO, DE 70 METRO DE LARGO, 4 METROS DE ANCHO, Y DE 6.5 PULGADAS DE LUZ DE MALLA, DENTRO DEL AREA NATURAL PROTEGIDA, PARQUE NACIONAL BAHIA DE LORETO, A UN LADO DE LA LOBERA DE PUNTA LOBOS ( ISLA DEL CARMEN ) EN LAS COORDENADAS GEOGRAFICAS LN 26deg 04'14.5" LW 111deg 03'34.8" ( LA RED ESTA DETENIDA ). Net confiscated: monofilament gillnet, 70 meters in length and 4 meters wide with gap spacing of 6.5 inches was found within the Bay of Loreto Marine Park protected zone, next to the sea lion colony at Isla Carmen's Punta Lobos with coordinates 26 deg 04'14.5" N, 111 deg 03'34.8" W. The net has been confiscated. Click on each image above for enlarged view. The report above was submitted to us and to Eco Alianza two days before its discovery and confiscation by park officials. Due to this formal report which was made by a local concerned foreign resident, other checks were made and more nets were found and detained. This is just one example of how local citizens can help enforce the Marine Park's rules. Don't be a chickenshit...PLEASE REPORT ILLEGAL ACTIVITY. Your reports will be anonymous and confidential if that is what you want. 28 April, 2009; Loreto, BCS- This boat was reported to authorities by Eco Alianza on behalf of a concerned citizen and it appears to be netting in the restricted zone. By studying the images it can be assumed that this boat set nets within 300 meters of the shoreline of Isla Carmen. The Google Map shows where this image was taken. Due to the flu pandemic threat level the Mexican government has shut down all non essential government offices until May 6, 2009. So there is little that can be done about this except continue to log reports unfortunately. Click on each image above for enlarged view. 12 April, 2009; Loreto, BCS- Easter Sunday, officials have been on vacation since the beginning of the week but only officially since thursday. ;) We were informed late last month (March 2009) that as of April 1st there will be a new on site local PESCA official. As of April 12th nobody has seen this person and the secretary continues to run the show. So far no illegal netting off the restricted park areas has been reported but this is likely due to the Easter holiday. Our eyes and ears are open. 12 September, 2008: Magdelena Bay, BCS- Recent late summer busts have been publicized;  Mexican Fishing Mafia Tagged for three Illegal Catches. This article described three busts that recently took place off the Pacific Coast of the Magdelena Bay area. "Community based enforcement efforts in Baja California Sur, Mexico, supported by The Billfish Foundation (TBF) through the Center for Marine Protection and funded by the recreational fishing license fees paid to FONMAR, have resulted in three recent seizures of vessels carrying multi-tons of illegally harvested dorado." In other developments the designers of the Shark Norma 029 is proposing the increase in incidental catch from 15 to 30%. Seems that every boat caught so far has like 99.9% incidental catch onboard and this is likely representative of the other boats that are out there. I am not sure where their heads are at but they are clearly not on our side. Read more on how you can help through your Mexican Sport Fishing license purchase below. Together we can make a difference on this and preserve our sportfishery. 13 August, 2008; Loreto, BCS.- a commercial boat from Mazatlan (image at left) was arrested North of the port of Loreto, B.C.S. and found with 1,300 KILOS of Dorado onboard in their hold and two small sharks. They had none of the species onboard that fell under their permit. The story in spanish is here. According to the local PROFEPA agents, they responded to repeated calls by local sportfishing pangueros and service providers as this boat was seen longlining for Dorado and filleting Dorado meat at sea. PROFEPA was unable to investigate due to lack of funding (no gas for patrol boat), so the Loreto Marine Park accompanied them to make the bust. 24 June, 2008; Loreto, BCS.- the Bahia Adair VII, likely from Sinaloa, is seen fishing a sargasso paddy off the port of Loreto, B.C.S. Anglers Tim and Riley fished on the "3 Ases" with our Captain Chanto approximately 1/4 mile from this commercial boat. The boat left the area on its own accord. 6 May, 2008; Loreto, BCS.- illegal netting of Yellowtail was taking place within the restricted area and reported to the marine park. Please see our Marine Park page which describes details of illegal netting and the disappointing results of reporting this activity to park officials. We are currently investigating ways in which resources from the purchase of Mexican Sport Fishing Permits and Loreto Marine Park Tickets can be collected and stay in the Loreto area for the purposes of research and enforcement of the laws. It is a fact that revenue collected in Loreto for the purpose of Mexican fishing licenses is disproportionately higher than the revenue collected from the rest of Baja California Sur and the rest of Mexico, thus those funds should rightly stay in this area in the future. SCIENTIFIC STUDIES: While mentioning the Giant Gulf Grouper, we have just made an excellent resource available online for download. Within the manual there is a graph showing the severe decline in numbers of large gulf groupers as reported by local anglers from 1940 to 2000. For more detail please click on the following PDF file: Responsible Users (English) LORETO MARINE PARK MANAGEMENT PLAN SECTOR MEETING DOWNLOADS: All of the following are in Spanish. First Meeting Series of Individual Sectors May 12, 2009- Public Sector Meeting May 13, 2009- Hotel and Development Sector Meeting May 14, 2009- Commercial fishing Sector Meeting May 15, 2009- Sport Fishing Sector Meeting May 16, 2009- Eco-tour Sector Meeting Second Meeting Series of Individual Sectors June 12, 2009- Hotel and Development Sector Meeting June 8, 2009- Commercial fishing Sector Meeting June 9, 2009- Sport Fishing Sector Meeting June 11, 2009- Eco-tour Sector Meeting June 10, 2009- Conservation Sector Meeting Third Meeting Series (All Sectors) July 22-24, 2009- Regulations and Zoning Planning Meetings of all sectors (Word Document, includes maps) July 22-24, 2009- Regulations and Zoning Planning Meetings of all sectors (PDF Document, includes maps) Final Meeting Series (All Sectors) September 30, October 1 and 2, 2009- The final series of meetings in which all sectors participated for the Loreto Marine Park Management Plan. Includes Zoning Map of the park and results of the votes for newly proposed "development zones". The next steps to ratifying the new marine park management plan follow: final proposal made by the general public goes to Mexico City for legal revision (in process now) review of legally revised proposed marine park management plan by the public (to be presented in December 2009) review of approved management plan goes back to Mexico City to be written and approved by the necessary governmental agencies (January 2010) new management plan goes into effect in Loreto (est. May-June 2010) management plan up for revision again in 2015 Loreto Marine Park Management Plan this is in Spanish and it is the current set of Marine Park regulations being followed now. Copyright © 1996-2009   The Baja Big Fish Company   bajabigfish.com