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Shrimpers allowed back into Cortez reserve
EL GOLFO DE SANTA CLARA, Sonora - Government officials said Wednesday they had reached an agreement with fishermen in a dispute that had spilled over
into Mexico's tourism industry and had threatened to become a headache for President Vicente Fox as he hosts world leaders.
But environmentalists criticized the compromise - which will allow shrimping vessels to continue fishing in a national protected marine reserve - as a
blow to last-ditch efforts to save what Jacques Cousteau once called "the world's aquarium."
The agreement was reached only days after protests by fishermen stranded hundreds of U.S. tourists over the weekend and just as leaders from Pacific
Rim nations gathered further south in the resort of Cabo San Lucas.
After Fox sent in the Navy to oust shrimp vessels from the northernmost section of the Gulf of California, fishermen formed human chains across a
highway connecting the sleepy port of Puerto Pe?asco to the U.S. border. The port, known as Rocky Point in the United States, is a popular weekend
getaway for Arizona residents.
Fishermen met with Arizona officials Wednesday to assure them they would not interfere with tourism again after reaching a seven-point compromise with
the government that will allow 130 local boats to fish in the reserve under certain conditions.
Declared a national park and UN biosphere nearly a decade ago, the million-acre reserve cuts a glistening blue swath through one of North America's
driest deserts, separating Baja California from mainland Mexico.
The waters are a key breeding ground for the Gulf of California, also known as the sea of Cortez. The area is also home of the vaquita, the world's
smallest porpoise on the brink of extinction.
With less than 600 of the four-foot vaquitas remaining, Environment Secretary Victor Lichtinger had called the crackdown "our last chance to save this
species."
Environmentalists say the boats use huge trawler nets that scrape the bottom of the Gulf and clear it of marine life, dredging up dozens of species on
which vaquitas depend. The fisherman keep a few commercially valuable species and throw the rest away to die, environmental groups allege.
Gill nets used by about 1,000 small-scale fishermen - who are still allowed in the reserve - also have killed between 30 to 80 vaquitas a year,
environmentalists say.
"Trawling the ocean floor has just completely destroyed this ecosystem," said Peggy Turk, director of the Intercultural Center for the Study of
Deserts and Oceans in Puerto Pe?asco, which sits just outside the reserve.
But Lichtinger's spokesman, Rodolfo Lacy, acknowledged Wednesday that local fishermen - who have been working in the area long before the reserve was
formed in 1993 - also have a right to "exploit its resources."
Lacy said there are ways they can do that while protecting the reserve.
Under the agreement, 130 local boats will be allowed to use a limited zone that avoids the main vaquita areas. Some 400 boats from Gulf ports outside
the area that once fished the reserve will be banned.
Fishermen now must use specially inspected low-impact nets to curtail damage to the ocean floor and prevent the capture of young fish and turtles.
They also cannot fish closer than three miles (five kilometers) from the coast and will be required to submit an environmental impact study this week.
Boats are expected back in the reserve by Saturday. Shrimp season runs from October to December.
"Before boats would come and go as they please," Lacy said. "But the federal government now is ensuring that all protected areas are actually being
protected. This is no exception."
Salvador Cabrales, President of the Fishing Industry Association said the fishermen plan on "using better technologies and better materials to give
the environment a better opportunity."
Environmentalists, however, said there would still be harm.
"Our opinion is that they should respect all of the reserve, which will benefit fishermen in the future," said Olegario Morales of the Intercultural
Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans.
"Definitely, there will be an impact," he added. "As much as they want to diminish the activity, the impact is going to be real."
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Dave
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6005
Registered: 11-5-2002
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| Quote: | [
"Before boats would come and go as they please," Lacy said. "But the federal government now is ensuring that all protected areas are actually being
protected. This is no exception."
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This compromise is BS and everyone knows it! Mexico doesn't have the will to police ANY agreement. The shrimpers will continue to do what they have
done. The government will point to the new policy as an environmental victory. Meanwhile the sea is being fished out. I'm sad...and damn mad!
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