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Whales thriving in lagoons once threatened to become salt ponds
http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/localnews/ci_147526...
By Susan Tripp Pollard
03/29/2010
LAGUNA SAN IGNACIO, MEXICO Naturalist Patrycja Kaczynska tells the 20 guests they might get sprayed with snot from a 35-ton mammal and if they
were that close, it would be a good thing.
The next morning, the guests pile into open, panga-style fishing boats to seek whales, but these are ecotourists more in the vein of Jacques Cousteau
than Captain Ahab.
More than 400 miles south of San Diego, along the Pacific coast of Baja California, lies a complex of three lagoons that together make up one of the
largest gray whale calving and breeding grounds in the world.
The smallest and most pristine of the three is Laguna San Ignacio, where California gray whales each year begin and end one of the longest mammalian
migrations in the world, a 10,000-mile round trip between Mexico and Alaska.
In the late 1990s, a partnership between the Mexican government and Mitsubishi wanted to develop a large salt works in Laguna San Ignacio.
The salt works, critics said, posed a severe threat to the breeding grounds and to an area Mexican officials have four times designated as
ecologically important: as a world heritage site, a biosphere reserve, a whale sanctuary and a migratory bird reserve.
"There aren't many places on the planet you could say that about," said Joel Reynolds, a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
"It's a wonderful ecosystem that when you're there feels like it's changed very little over thousands of years."
Ten years ago this month, then-Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, under pressure from environmentalists, Mexican intellectuals, fishermen and others,
surprised them all by announcing his government was suddenly pulling the plug on the salt project.
There was no lawsuit. Rather, environmentalists and others had launched a massive public relations campaign to bring attention to the plans. When the
plans were halted, they were elated.
"That was probably one of the most significant environmental victories due to citizen action in history," Reynolds said. "It was the largest
environmental coalition in the history of Mexico."
Instead of a 116-square-mile industrial salt works, about a half-dozen whale-watching camps now surround the lagoon. Visitors sleep in rustic cabins
or army-style tents, isolated by a rough road.
The only electricity comes from the sun, wind or propane tanks.
Maldo Fischer and his family run the ecolodge Campo Cortez. Maldo's wife, Katalina, was a descendant of the original six families that lived in Laguna
San Ignacio.
Now, Maldo and his family make a living taking visitors whale watching from December to April, and fishing for lobster, scallops, sea bass, mackerel,
snapper, grouper and other fish the rest of the year.
In the evenings, Maldo and his staff educate and entertain visitors, over margaritas, beer and chips and guacamole, with whale tales like the one
about a gray whale that went under his boat and placed its pectoral fins on either side of the craft in an embrace.
Today, the California gray whale population is healthy, and in the winter months lucky visitors may have a close encounter.
For Donna Williams, who is blind in one eye and losing sight in the other, a recent trip was the chance of a lifetime.
"Oh my gosh, my dream has come true," said Williams, an interior designer from Long Beach. "It was a very spiritual thing for me. I've been depressed
because of my eyes. It changed my life. It made me see how beautiful nature is and to just go with the flow."
What she saw during the days was a monochromatic scene of gray sky, gray water and gray whales, its serenity occasionally broken by the whoosh of a
whale blow and the cheers of nearby whale watchers.
Later, at sunset, the shades of gray give way to the blazing hues of a Baja sunset.
California gray whales, or the Eastern North Pacific stock of gray whales, were severely depleted by commercial whaling beginning in the 1800s until
an international ban on hunting the species was enacted in the 1930s.
Today, the danger to gray whales no longer involves harpoons but collisions with ships, habitat changes and other threats.
In 1994 the whales became the first marine mammal removed from the list of endangered species after their numbers rebounded. Recent estimates have put
the number of California gray whales at roughly 26,000. Western Pacific, or Korean gray whales, remain endangered; the Atlantic gray whale is extinct.
Migrating California gray whales, which grow to nearly 50 feet long and weigh as much as 80,000 pounds, spend the summer in seas around Alaska and
eastern Russia and move south for the winter to Baja California, where they breed and calve mostly at the lagoons.
Because they often travel near the coast, they are some of the most often spotted whales along Northern California shores.
But it is here, in a Baja California lagoon, where you can see the whales up close. Whale lice and barnacles give their skin a granitic, mottled
appearance. Baby whales have fewer marks and barnacles and lice. Their dark gray skin is more solid.
During the last of six trips onto the lagoon the wind kicked up suddenly, and the boat drivers put on their yellow slickers. The water became choppy,
and plastic baggies helped protect cameras against the sea spray.
Soon, the whales appear: A blow at 10 a.m. A fluke at 3 p.m., and a nearby panga is treated to a show when a whale peaks above the surface a
"spyhop" less than 10 feet away.
Like a finale at a fireworks show, the whales suddenly appear around the panga.
A mother edges her baby close to the boat, and, swiftly, one must choose whether to reach for the whale or reach for a camera.
Donna Williams reaches out and touches the whale. "It felt like suede," said Williams, who now has a memory and a connection to the gray whales of
Laguna San Ignacio that will last a lifetime.
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David K
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The San Ignacio lagoon wasn't going to be dammed off and drained... as the title of this article claims. There are extensive salt flats north of the
lagoon that were going to be developed to mine salt... the very same thing has been going on at Guerrero Negro/ Scammon's Lagoon since 1957, and the
whales are doing just fine at Scammon's Lagoon!
The biggest issue for the San Ignacio salt project was a proposed 5 mile long pier to off load salt onto ships. It was thought the pier would
interfere with whales navigating to the lagoon entrance.
Shari is the expert, so if she has any different data I would hear her on this and not the source of information for the story above..."Naturalist
Patrycja Kaczynska" where ever she came from!???
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Russ
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."Naturalist Patrycja Kaczynska" where ever she came from!???
http://www.expeditions.com/View_By_Expertise83.asp?ByName=P
[Edited on 3-30-2010 by Russ]
Bahia Concepcion where life starts...given a chance!
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DianaT
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DK
Since you like to read about Baja, one book that is a must in any Baja Library is
Saving the Grey Whale by Serge Dedina----but since he runs WildCoast I wonder if you will read it. WildCoast is one of those organizations interested
in saving the environment.
BTW WildCoast is a very popular organization in that area---both the Mexican branch and the US Branch.
His book is a little dated as it ended before the final decisions were made. Not only did he live at the Lagoon with a family for a while, his
research took him to Mexico City and elsewhere. The book includes lots of political information, is a study in cultural differences, and in the
politics of money.
Bottom line, the expansion of the salt works into the San Ignacio Lagoon area would have been an environmental and social disaster. The effects would
have reached Abreojos, and that entire co-op worked against the idea along with the people from the Lagoon. They recently had a large celebration at
the Lagoon, celebrating the stopping of the expansion of the salt-works.
It was one of the few times that the environment and the needs of the local people won over a large corporation with corrupt politicians in their
pockets. It was a great victory for the lagoon, the surrounding area, and the people.
Not so long ago, we took a friend who works for the Preserve to work in Guerrero Negro. We were able to take the "short cut" through the back working
area of the Salt works because he was with us.
It was very interesting ride. It turned into a mini tour and education. There are ruins from an old RR in there from the British works from before
1900, and the newer works flooded an old cemetery from which many years later a body washed up. Just some interesting trivia.
But over all, the area is a mess from the salt-works. It has really destroyed the environment in that area, but it is there and not going away. They
still have concerns over possible long term affects to the Whales and other wildlife even though the salt company does things like build Osprey posts
etc.,
There are some good paying jobs in Guerrero Negro from the salt works, but that is because they have a very strong union---something that could have
been broken if the works would have been expanded.
Thank goodness that the people, and the environment won that one. The area around the San Ignacio is beautiful and now it is protected and the people
around there know it is a real treasure----not perfectly protected, but certainly better than what would have happened.
There are other good books about that battle.
Why would you think Patrycja Kaczynska would not know anything? Is it because she earned her biology degree in Poland, which she did?
And yes, she is a tour guide, may not be an expert in all things whale, but she does have credentials and she does have the essence of her story
correct.
It would have been a disaster for the all of the environment in that area and the Whales became the best poster children for the cause.
Expand your reading, and try reading this one---the battle was about a lot more than the whales.
[Edited on 3-30-2010 by DianaT]
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David K
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Cool... as I suspected, she isn't a local girl, and wow, she has been in the area since 2008 doing guide work! They need to interview Shari for the
history of the area lagoons and whales....
PATRYCJA KACZYNSKA
Assistant Expedition Leader
Patrycja was born and raised in Poland, where she earned her masters degree in biotechnology and a diploma for German language. Her interest in
travel and nature often took her abroad, and she has since lived in Egypt, Cuba, and Spain while hosting and leading international tour groups.
Besides her native Polish language she also speaks English, German, Spanish and some Russian. Her personal interests include dance, sports, and
diving. She also loves whales, dolphins and her dog, Mika.
Pati joined Lindblad Expeditions as an Assistant Expedition Leader in January 2008 and has worked aboard the Panorama in Greece and the Dalmatian
Coast, the Sea Cloud II sailing the Caribbean, and on the land extension for the Baltic Sea voyages in St. Petersburg and Moscow. She has traveled
with Lindblad to many other destinations including Egypt, Alaska, the Sea of Cortez, and the British and Irish Isles, travelling aboard such vessels
as the Triton, National Geographic Sea Lion, National Geographic Sea Bird, and National Geographic Endeavour.
She also enjoys spending her time as a whale-watching guide at the San Ignacio Lagoon in Mexico.
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David K
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The enviroment that was going to be 'destroyed' was a salt flat... a place where nothing lives. But, that is old news and has nothing to do with FACTS
that were wrong in the story... and that is why I questioned the story and its source...
There was a day, when questioning stories for validity was a good thing, instead of just allowing one side's opinion to be heard...
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DianaT
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| Quote: | Originally posted by whistler
Actually the plan was to create salt flats.The plans called for a reverse dam inside the Laguna (to slow down the receding of the water),construct
five pump stations to pump water to create the new evaporation ponds.A conveyor system was to haul salt to Bauteki (5 miles north of Abreojos)where a
pier was to be built to off load on to ships.
I am glad it was not built but to be fair the united nations did a study and they said it would have minimal effect on the whales.
Oh yeah,Gene Kira was all for it. |
Thank goodness for the Whales making such good poster children --- they did their job. 
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Mexitron
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I'm glad they didn't build it...I know the whales would probably have been okay but to see San Ignacio looking the same as the Guerrero negro
area...no thanks. Besides, salt is about the cheapest thing you can buy---I don't think the world is starving for more.
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mtgoat666
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| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
The enviroment that was going to be 'destroyed' was a salt flat... a place where nothing lives....
There was a day, when questioning stories for validity was a good thing, instead of just allowing one side's opinion to be heard...
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"...a place where nothing lives."
DK: why does your wife allow you to spout such nonsense on the internet?
Have you ever been to San Ignacio Lagoon? I think not (if you had been there I am sure you would have posted 100 photos of your Toyota at the lagoon)
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capt. mike
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you'd be surprized
| Quote: | Originally posted by Mexitron
I'm glad they didn't build it...I know the whales would probably have been okay but to see San Ignacio looking the same as the Guerrero negro
area...no thanks. Besides, salt is about the cheapest thing you can buy---I don't think the world is starving for more. |
to learn that at one time in the eons of the past, and depending on geography salt was more valuable than gold.
tribes had to make long treks to obtain salt as it is a vital nutrient required for human survival.
formerly Ordained in Rev. Ewing\'s Church by Mail - busted on tax fraud.......
Now joined L. Ron Hoover\'s church of Appliantology
\"Remember there is a big difference between kneeling down and bending over....\"
www.facebook.com/michael.l.goering |
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David K
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I was comparing her to someone like Shari, not me. Stay focused.
Please tell me all the plants and animals that live on a SALT FLAT, that is the place I said 'nothing lives', not in the lagoon. Salt flats are void
of life and organisms... wy meat is preserved with salt...
Just Facts, not insults... can you do that?
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mtgoat666
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| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
Please tell me all the plants and animals that live on a SALT FLAT, that is the place I said 'nothing lives', not in the lagoon. Salt flats are void
of life and organisms... wy meat is preserved with salt... |
dk: obviously you are aware that all of the area is salt flats and devoid of life. it is a dead zone, and has zero value; wasted land, what a shame
to waste that land when it could be put to better use as industrial extraction industry. please don't visit unless you have some meat or fish that
needs curing.
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Don Alley
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Hooray for the NRDC! They have saved the whales, and now this "wonderful ecosystem that when you're there feels like it's changed very little over
thousands of years" is saved too. I bet the fishing there is stellar!
Let's all send the NRDC a big check!
And David, you can send one too, so the young biologist can buy a vowel or two.
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mtgoat666
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DianaT
Since you like to read about Baja, one book that is a must in any Baja Library is
Saving the Grey Whale by Serge Dedina |
Also recommend reading "Eye of the Whale."
| Quote: | Originally posted by DianaT
They recently had a large celebration at the Lagoon, celebrating the stopping of the expansion of the salt-works.
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Yes, twas 10th anniversary of greeenies winning at la laguna
| Quote: | Originally posted by DianaT
Not so long ago, we took a friend who works for the Preserve to work in Guerrero Negro. We were able to take the "short cut" through the back working
area of the Salt works because he was with us.
|
it is an interesting process, requiring lots of land to make the volumes they do. it is really interesting to fly over -- from plane you get to see
how vast the operation really is. when you see it from air, you realize how devestating it would have been to see same at SIL.
| Quote: | Originally posted by DianaT
Why would you think Patrycja Kaczynska would not know anything? Is it because she earned her biology degree in Poland, which she did?
And yes, she is a tour guide, may not be an expert in all things whale, but she does have credentials and she does have the essence of her story
correct. |
she obviously doesn't have a high enough Baja Nomad post count to be an expert
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Skipjack Joe
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| Quote: | Originally posted by whistler
Actually the plan was to create salt flats.The plans called for a reverse dam inside the Laguna (to slow down the receding of the
water),construct five pump stations to pump water to create the new evaporation ponds.
..
..
..
Oh yeah,Gene Kira was all for it. |
David,
If, as you say, the salt flats are environmentally dead areas then wouldn't the creation of salt ponds create biological wastelands? Wouldn't land
that's currently sustaining life be flooded with sea water and left to evaporate? Wouldn't the shallows of the Laguna have it's life destroyed?
The shallow edges of estuaries and lagoons are incredibly rich areas that act as nursery grounds for some species of fish before moving into the sea.
It's part of their life cycle. In terms of biomass lagoons are some of the richest ecosystems on the planet. They rival rainforests and coral reefs.
Losing that part of the lagoon is no bueno. Most of the salt ponds in the Bay Area where I live are now being reclaimed in order to revitalize the
ecosystem that's taken a beating over the last 150 years. The people of Abreojos did the right thing.
Glenn,
If you have any more information about why Gene supported this venture I woud be interested.
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Skipjack Joe
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He once wrote - "You can't eat beauty".
The implication is quite obvious and short-sighted. But people change their minds over the years. Certainly the growth of Cabo and Loreto is far
beyond putting food on the table any more.
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Skipjack Joe
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The false pretenses being that the whales were never in any danger?
Well, the rewards from selling salt must have been paltry compared to abalone and lobster.
Reclaiming tideland is a long and contentious process in the end. It's best that they never created the evaporation ponds to start with.
[Edited on 4-1-2010 by Skipjack Joe]
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DianaT
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| Quote: | Originally posted by mtgoat666
| Quote: | Originally posted by DianaT
Not so long ago, we took a friend who works for the Preserve to work in Guerrero Negro. We were able to take the "short cut" through the back working
area of the Salt works because he was with us.
|
it is an interesting process, requiring lots of land to make the volumes they do. it is really interesting to fly over -- from plane you get to see
how vast the operation really is. when you see it from air, you realize how devestating it would have been to see same at SIL.
|
The three of us had a conversation about just that as we traveled through the mess. I can only imagine how awful it looks from the air. The San
Ignacio Lagoon area is a very special area.
But I think Laguna Percebu (Shell Island) might be the PERFECT place for another Salt Works. 
[Edited on 4-1-2010 by DianaT]
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Worldtraveller
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Yesterday, my family and I went out with Maldo Fischer. He did a great job and we had a great experience with the whales.
| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaNews
http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/localnews/ci_147526...
By Susan Tripp Pollard
03/29/2010
LAGUNA SAN IGNACIO, MEXICO Naturalist Patrycja Kaczynska tells the 20 guests they might get sprayed with snot from a 35-ton mammal and if they
were that close, it would be a good thing.
The next morning, the guests pile into open, panga-style fishing boats to seek whales, but these are ecotourists more in the vein of Jacques Cousteau
than Captain Ahab.
More than 400 miles south of San Diego, along the Pacific coast of Baja California, lies a complex of three lagoons that together make up one of the
largest gray whale calving and breeding grounds in the world.
The smallest and most pristine of the three is Laguna San Ignacio, where California gray whales each year begin and end one of the longest mammalian
migrations in the world, a 10,000-mile round trip between Mexico and Alaska.
In the late 1990s, a partnership between the Mexican government and Mitsubishi wanted to develop a large salt works in Laguna San Ignacio.
The salt works, critics said, posed a severe threat to the breeding grounds and to an area Mexican officials have four times designated as
ecologically important: as a world heritage site, a biosphere reserve, a whale sanctuary and a migratory bird reserve.
"There aren't many places on the planet you could say that about," said Joel Reynolds, a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
"It's a wonderful ecosystem that when you're there feels like it's changed very little over thousands of years."
Ten years ago this month, then-Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, under pressure from environmentalists, Mexican intellectuals, fishermen and others,
surprised them all by announcing his government was suddenly pulling the plug on the salt project.
There was no lawsuit. Rather, environmentalists and others had launched a massive public relations campaign to bring attention to the plans. When the
plans were halted, they were elated.
"That was probably one of the most significant environmental victories due to citizen action in history," Reynolds said. "It was the largest
environmental coalition in the history of Mexico."
Instead of a 116-square-mile industrial salt works, about a half-dozen whale-watching camps now surround the lagoon. Visitors sleep in rustic cabins
or army-style tents, isolated by a rough road.
The only electricity comes from the sun, wind or propane tanks.
Maldo Fischer and his family run the ecolodge Campo Cortez. Maldo's wife, Katalina, was a descendant of the original six families that lived in Laguna
San Ignacio.
Now, Maldo and his family make a living taking visitors whale watching from December to April, and fishing for lobster, scallops, sea bass, mackerel,
snapper, grouper and other fish the rest of the year.
In the evenings, Maldo and his staff educate and entertain visitors, over margaritas, beer and chips and guacamole, with whale tales like the one
about a gray whale that went under his boat and placed its pectoral fins on either side of the craft in an embrace.
Today, the California gray whale population is healthy, and in the winter months lucky visitors may have a close encounter.
For Donna Williams, who is blind in one eye and losing sight in the other, a recent trip was the chance of a lifetime.
"Oh my gosh, my dream has come true," said Williams, an interior designer from Long Beach. "It was a very spiritual thing for me. I've been depressed
because of my eyes. It changed my life. It made me see how beautiful nature is and to just go with the flow."
What she saw during the days was a monochromatic scene of gray sky, gray water and gray whales, its serenity occasionally broken by the whoosh of a
whale blow and the cheers of nearby whale watchers.
Later, at sunset, the shades of gray give way to the blazing hues of a Baja sunset.
California gray whales, or the Eastern North Pacific stock of gray whales, were severely depleted by commercial whaling beginning in the 1800s until
an international ban on hunting the species was enacted in the 1930s.
Today, the danger to gray whales no longer involves harpoons but collisions with ships, habitat changes and other threats.
In 1994 the whales became the first marine mammal removed from the list of endangered species after their numbers rebounded. Recent estimates have put
the number of California gray whales at roughly 26,000. Western Pacific, or Korean gray whales, remain endangered; the Atlantic gray whale is extinct.
Migrating California gray whales, which grow to nearly 50 feet long and weigh as much as 80,000 pounds, spend the summer in seas around Alaska and
eastern Russia and move south for the winter to Baja California, where they breed and calve mostly at the lagoons.
Because they often travel near the coast, they are some of the most often spotted whales along Northern California shores.
But it is here, in a Baja California lagoon, where you can see the whales up close. Whale lice and barnacles give their skin a granitic, mottled
appearance. Baby whales have fewer marks and barnacles and lice. Their dark gray skin is more solid.
During the last of six trips onto the lagoon the wind kicked up suddenly, and the boat drivers put on their yellow slickers. The water became choppy,
and plastic baggies helped protect cameras against the sea spray.
Soon, the whales appear: A blow at 10 a.m. A fluke at 3 p.m., and a nearby panga is treated to a show when a whale peaks above the surface a
"spyhop" less than 10 feet away.
Like a finale at a fireworks show, the whales suddenly appear around the panga.
A mother edges her baby close to the boat, and, swiftly, one must choose whether to reach for the whale or reach for a camera.
Donna Williams reaches out and touches the whale. "It felt like suede," said Williams, who now has a memory and a connection to the gray whales of
Laguna San Ignacio that will last a lifetime. |
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