SAN DIEGO, Calif. (News 8) -- United States taxpayers will pay more than $600,000 for a daring rescue operation in Mexico aimed at rounding up
porpoises in the Sea of Cortez.
A CBS News 8 investigation uncovered the federal money being spent to capture the endangered vaquita and place the marine mammals into a seaside
breeding program near San Felipe.
For years, illegal gillnet fishing nets have been drowning vaquita in the upper Sea of Cortez. There are only 30 of the small porpoises left and none
have ever been captured alive.
Volunteers with Sea Shepherd Conservation Society have spent the past two years patrolling Mexican waters with ships and drones, removing the nets
that trap and kill the vaquita.
“It's been very successful. We've taken 450 illegal nets out of the water along with long lines. We've caught numerous poachers with our drones
and night vision,” said Captain Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd president and founder.
This coming October, an international team of scientists will try to capture up to ten of the endangered porpoises and put them into seaside pens on
the Sea of Cortez.
“The clock is ticking. We're down to the last few opportunities to save the species from extinction. And we should go out in the field with every
tool that might possibly work,” said NOAA Marine Biologist Barbara Taylor in an interview earlier this year.
The team plans to use U.S. Navy bottlenose dolphins trained in San Diego Bay to locate and track the vaquita porpoises in Mexico.
Staff and scientists from NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla will also be part of the five-week roundup effort.
CBS News 8 obtained hundreds of pages of records and emails related to the vaquita operation from the U.S. Navy under a Freedom of Information Act
request.
The documents showed the Navy plans to spend $415,000 on training its bottlenose dolphins and deploying them to Mexico. A spokesperson for the Navy
Marine Mammal Program did not respond to a request for comment on the costs.
The military plans to use the U.S. Coast Guard to transport the Navy dolphins to the Sea of Cortez, according to the records.
NOAA’s team of scientists from La Jolla will cost $198,294, a NOAA spokesperson estimated in an emailed accounting. The NOAA costs include wages,
overtime, travel and vehicle expenses.
Total cost to U.S. taxpayers will be more than $613,000.
Animal activists worry it’s a risky roundup.
“I would recommend they spend that money on enforcement to stop these poachers from going in there,” said Captain Watson with Sea Shepherd.
“First of all, the captive breeding program is probably not going to work. There's no evidence that the vaquita can actually live in captivity.
There's no evidence they can be captured alive. It's never been done,” Watson said.
But supporters of the captive breeding plan insist it’s the last chance to save the vaquita porpoise.
“It’s already very late in the game to be taking animals out (of the wild) and we just can't afford to wait another year to see whether a miracle
happens and the gillnetting is actually stopped,” said NOAA’s Barbara Taylor.
The Mexican government has pledged $3 million to build sea pens and onshore pens near San Felipe.Enrique2012 - 8-14-2017 at 07:15 AM
600k is a drop in the bucket compared to what we spend to rescue their people...Gscott - 8-16-2017 at 05:04 AM
If the US wants to help the Sea of Cortez they will tear down a couple dams and restore the Colorado River flows. But that will cost a lot more. DENNIS - 8-16-2017 at 01:07 PM
The SOC is a tributary of the Pacific Ocean...not the Colorado River.David K - 8-16-2017 at 01:47 PM
Good to see your wisdom here, still Dennis! Hope you are doing well!DENNIS - 8-16-2017 at 02:10 PM
Thanks David. I watch....I see....I'll come and go as the garbage settles to the bottom of the dumpster and takes a nap.
All is good....Hope the same for you and yours as well. Thanks.bajabuddha - 8-16-2017 at 04:56 PM
The upper part of the SOC pre-damn dams was a verdant paradise, comparable to every major river estuary on the globe if not the most verdant. It had
millions of flamingos at nesting season much like the bays that now support whale calving, thanks to humanitarian efforts to bring them all back.
Since the complete devastation of the silt and re-'forestation' of the north SOC it has caused total desertification of the northern 1/3rd of the
entire area, more so than over-fishing has. "The toe-bone's connected to the ... foot-bone" etc.
Those of us George Washington Hayduke fans await the ultimate re-forestation of the SOC, and the naming of Dominy Falls, the future rapid made by the
rubble of Glen Canyon Dam after George sinks his houseboat. Want a good read to realize the extent of the Colorado damming project? TRY "Glen
Canyon" by Steve Hannon (I hope). Of course, on this site there's no human interference with nature IF it concerns us, the U.S., just the Japanese,
the Mexicans, etc etc etc. Of course, NO global warming, and if the Coyote palm trees are ok, all is well, right? YAWWWN.
The damn dams have EVERYTHING to do with the devastation of the SOC. Archie - 8-16-2017 at 06:15 PM
For 1/3 of that monies i can tell you two things:
1. They will not recover the species. Its already gone.
2. Its absence will not have any effect, negative or positive, in the ecosystem.
Cash its ok, ill bring my gunny sack.SFandH - 8-16-2017 at 06:24 PM
1. They will not recover the species. Its already gone.
2. Its absence will not have any effect, negative or positive, in the ecosystem.
I'm of the same opinion.
On the related Colorado River delta topic:
fishbuck - 8-17-2017 at 02:29 AM
Mind blowing!shari - 8-17-2017 at 10:09 AM
I am the never give up type of person so I wouldnt give up till the overweight lady sings. I doubted the pronghorn project would ever work and it is a
resounding success.
The fact that VAquitas have never been raised in captivity or live captured doesnt mean it cant be done. Nature has an incredible ability to recover
given the chance.
