Community based enforcement efforts supported by The Billfish Foundation (TBF) through the Baja California Sur Center for Marine Protection and funded
by the recreational fishing license fees paid to FONMAR have resulted in three recent seizures of illegally harvested dorado. TBF was instrumental in
getting FONMAR established so that angler's license fees would go directly to assisting conservation and protection of the fish resources. Three
weeks ago, a vessel was seized in Loreto and, this past weekend, two boats owned by commercial longline king Henry Collard were seized and charged
with illegally harvesting dorado while using a shark permit in Magdelena Bay.
Collard, a prominent representative of commercial fishing interests, was reported in El Sudcaliforniano to have threatened fisheries enforcement
agents that he "is a personal friend of Ramon Corral and you can't do this to me!" This statement does not do much for Corral's already tainted image
by accusations of wrong doing by his own Conapesca personnel. Corral is the head of Mexico's fisheries agency CONAPESCA and has been an unyielding
supporter of the shark Nom-029 that attempted to allow the "incidental" harvest of billfish, dorado and other species within Mexico's 24 year old
conservation zones. "Apparently the recent interest of U.S. enforcement officials in the import of illegally caught dorado has persuaded CONAPESCA
that they need to concede TBF's position that there is no basis in Mexican law to allow bycatch in the conservation zones and enforce the federal
fisheries law," said TBF President Ellen Peel. Full details of the story will follow in the upcoming issue of Billfish magazine.richard nauman - 9-10-2008 at 04:28 PM
Don - I can't find that story on the Bill Fish Foundation Webpage. The link just goes to the opening page. Any leads on where its at?
Thanks!!!Don Alley - 9-10-2008 at 04:35 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by richard nauman
Don - I can't find that story on the Bill Fish Foundation Webpage. The link just goes to the opening page. Any leads on where its at?
Thanks!!!
Sorry. I got the story direct from TBF; I'm a member and I get their email alerts, and I cut and pasted this one that came today. It hasn't been
posted to their website, I just thought I'd link the name of my source for promotional purposes.
By the way, I like your site.Osprey - 9-10-2008 at 05:55 PM
Don, I just tried to find the article too with no luck. The reason I was interested is that I read a couple of times when Mexico ran out of fishing
licenses that
1. The reason was the congress was rewriting fishing laws
2. That at some time in the future, new licenses would be issued THE FEES FOR WHICH WOULD BE PUT BACK INTO THE FISHERIES WHERE THEY WERE ISSUED.
I didn't believe #s 1 or 2 or all the others through #1 million. Are you now telling us that while we were all asleep, brand new laws were passed, new
and better licenses were designed along with an issue area specific user fee operation we can trust and love? Who is FONMAR? What happened to PESCA
and/or CONAPESCA? How come I can't find anything so important on the Billfish site? Thanks in advance.richard nauman - 9-12-2008 at 02:24 PM
Osprey,
FONMAR is the Fondo para la Proteccion de los Recursos Marinos (Fund for the Protection of Marine Resources). Fishing license fees collected in BCS go
into a trust fund (FONMAR) and then are distributed for enforcement, research, and other local fisheries projects. The fund is supervised by a group
of sport fishing, tourism and conservation interests and state and local government officials.
The federal agency CONAPESCA replaced PESCA and oversees fisheries and aquaculture.
I must admit I was hopeful but skeptical when I first heard about FONMAR. But it seems to be producing at least in some areas. The Bill Fish
Foundation (billfish.org) and Sea Watch (SeaWatch.org - unfortunately this webpage is down right now) are the main US groups involved that I know
about.
Searching on the Sud Californiano page for FONMAR yields a bunch of articles about enforcement actions funded by FONMAR including the recent bust of two commercial boats illegally fishing
dorado off of Puerto San Carlos.
You can also check out My Blog's articles on FONMAR. I only have a couple of things so far but will be writing more soon I hope.
Another link is the Baja Big Fish Company's fishing reports. Scroll to the bottom and read what Pam has to say about buying licenses in BCS and the fight against the
Shark Norma.
Don - thanks, glad you like the site!!! I'm always looking for interesting material to add or links to post.
[Edited on 9-12-2008 by richard nauman]Don Alley - 9-12-2008 at 04:48 PM
Osprey...the "article" was an email to Billfish Foundation members. At least for now, the only place to find it is in the email of members.
Richard, thanks for your reply.Osprey - 9-12-2008 at 05:03 PM
Thanks to both of you. Now, if and when Mexico will make an effort to make licenses available near the fishery more funds can be available to FONMAR
to do good work. As it is now tens of thousands of dollars that went/will go to pay for licenses is in Mexico City -- they received the $ long ago
from stateside license outlets and U.S. travel clubs like Vagabundos Del Mar.
