Commercial Fishing in the Sea of Cortez

I've moved this post here to separate it from another thread about Pta. Chivato 'back-in-the-day'. Just a matter of staying on subject. One has nothing to do with the other and I don't want to do an injustice to Pta. Chivato. It's something I should have noticed when originally writing this, but better late than never.

[Commercial fishing in the SOC. A national shame.

Sadly we always had way, way too many shrimpers, seiners, and draggers operating in the Sea of Cortez. These guys were busy back-in-the-day stealing the future of the Sea of Cortez. Compared to then, today the sea is like a barren desert. No surprise to anyone, there was way too much greed and corruption in the commercial fish business and it's still happening today. A nation that will not follow it's own laws and address its problems will not endure. I loathe getting on a soapbox, but it seems to be a necessity at times.



It was July in the 1980s near Mulege-Sta. Rosalia and the yellowfin tuna were just offshore in huge numbers. It seemed that the surface was alive with them almost everywhere you looked. If you saw porpoise moving on the surface, all you had to do was quickly troll a feather through them...and the tuna that were always found below the porpoise would inhale the feather. FISH ON! We had tuna steaks, sushi, fillets, you name it. The radio talk amongst sportfishers was alive with tuna reports. I fear all that radio talk got to ears on the mainland....because before long.....

Here are sights we came upon one fateful and sad day.

TUNA SEINERS ...with helicopter spotters and net-stringing boats.







You can see some of the netted tuna being hauled up in the net. A few we watched were crushed by the pulley at the top and wasted. It made one cringe. A bunch of us homeowners made 2 trips to La Paz back then to speak with the governor about this calamity, but both times our talk fell on deaf ears. Our protests just did not count for anything...a waste of time and breath.







Here a sportfisherman pulls alongside to ask for or buy a tuna. Catching them by angling was already so rare as to be improbable and this fellow said they had been skunked all day up to this point.



These SOBs took hundreds of tons of tuna every day until they finally decimated the whole area. Completely denuded of tuna...and a helluva lot of incidental bycatch. We tried sportfishing for a week or two after they had taken their tonnages and disappeared. We caught nada. That was the last great tuna migration in that part of the sea. Nothing since has compared to it. Such a loss is deeply shameful and criminal, but there is no shame to these greedy destroyers.

The following is from an article by Sea Watch.

The Problem: Destruction of the Sea of Cortez... "Owned by All Mexicans and Managed by None"

The Sea of Cortez, one of the most unique and diverse seas in the world, is on the brink of collapse. At one time, this stretch of water produced more protein per cubic meter than any other sea in the world. Today, its fish stocks have been decimated.
Fish populations in the Sea of Cortez have decreased by more than 90% since the 1960s with the advent of new commercial fishing methods & technology. The reduction of fish stocks in the Sea of Cortez has followed a similar trajectory as almost all of the world's oceans. As the recent Myers-Worm study showed, the biomass of large predators (i.e. tuna and billfish) are typically reduced by 80% within 15 years of the start of commercial exploitation. The Sea of Cortez is no different - only 5-10% of it's original large fish stocks remain.

The Sea of Cortez is the only major body of water in the world entirely under the control of one government, and it seems a fisherman working in its waters can fish for anything he wants, using any method (gear type) he wants, at any time of year, and catch as much as he wants. How a govenment can think this is a sustanable way to maintain a fishery is beyond comprehension.



Nets kill porpoise, shark, turtles, whales, and whatever gets untangled in the damn nets. Mburros and mburros of bycatch thrown back as garbage for the birds. Unique even in today's dessimation of the seas, this is an unbelievable waste of a resource. What the hell is the matter with their thinking and where is a plan for the future of the next generation?


These are some alarming facts about how the fishery is managed.



Striped Marlin: down by 50-60% over the last 15 years
The average size in Cabo San Lucas is down from 160 to 110 pounds (Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission just admitted that striped marlin are being fished at twice their sustainable rate. This admission came only after they split the striped marlin into a northern and a southern population)


Tuotova: Nearly Extinct

Turtles: Endangered

Shrimp: Down dramatically. Now they weigh the whole shrimp instead of just the tails to preserve the illusion that catches remain high.

Sardines: One billion pounds a year were taken; now all Guaymas canneries are gone.

Grouper: Commercially extinct.


Yellowtail: Down dramatically. Loreto was the yellow tail capital of the world, two seiners destroyed them in two weeks.

Thresher Sharks: Extinct

Pacific Manta: Dramatically reduced

Whale Sharks: Divers haven't seen them in large numbers for many years in the Sea of Cortez


I hate to end on such a sour note. But, it might not be too late, let's all try our best to help bring back the Sea of Cortez.
Your comments and suggestions...pro or con...are welcomed.


Thank God, the other good things about Baja far outnumber the bad.

Viva Baja!



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Within this post I have copied and pasted responses from Nomads on the commercial fishing theme.

Martyman

Quote: Originally posted by Martyman

Get up on that soapbox brother. We're listening! It is the right message.

Quote: Originally posted by AndyP

Quote: Originally posted by Pompano   Fish populations in the Sea of Cortes have decreased by more than 90% since the 1960s with the advent of new commercial fishing methods & technology. The reduction of fish stocks in the Sea of Cortes has followed a similar trajectory as almost all of the world's oceans. Thanks Pompano, you make me nostalgic for a time before I was born- you really should publish a book. I too am glad you're bringing attention to the health of the sea and the over-fishing going on. To think about what has happened in just the last 50 years is very scary, and if anyone wants to really get depressed just do a little research into the amount of plastic accumulating in the world's oceans and working its way up the food chain to... us. Lately I've been wondering about the many lost golden ages I might be describing to folks thirty years from now. Anyway some of the best months of my life have been spent on long sea kayaking trips on the Sea of Cortez. I took this photo somewhere between El Barril and Santa Rosalia last May. This boat was headed in to anchor in a bay with four other similar sized fishing boats; you can't really tell from the picture but it was producing an incredibly large cloud of smokey black and yellow exhaust, extending literally for miles. I hate to think about the damage they were doing beneath the water.

Remember the late 70's, 80's and early 90's fondly. Fish everywhere in abundance. Yellowtail, Tuna, Dorado, Grouper, Pargo, Cabrilla, not to mention the large varieties of rock fish. First the Tuna disappeared, followed by Spanish mackerel, which used to be around in huge schools during the summer.
Grouper are a rarity any longer and Pargo and Cabrilla are getting harder to find.

However, the new comers, who never have experienced those days, still believe the fishing is very good and often rave about it.
So if you're not familiar with those bygone days you won't miss them and that's good for them.

I sold my boat and don't fish anymore, fishing not the reason but my aging bod.

This just West of the mouth of Bahia Concepcion. Only 4 or 5 years ago. That day there were 18 seiners off the mouth. A year earlier there were 22 of them and within 24 hours all but 6 setting in front of my place had gone and with them a huge amount of the future stocks.


And of course a couple hundred of these have depleted all hopes of the beautiful reef fishes recovery.


Today there are fewer nets at most times of the year. However if there is a rumor of a fish run the netters of all descriptions show up to decimate the fish run.
Realize that I am only seeing what happens in front of me so I have a very narrow view of the fishery. But for Gods sake, if Mexico can not protect a place named Bahia Concepcion is there hope for other areas?
edit; sake for sack

[Edited on 1-16-2015 by Russ]

[Edited on 1-16-2015 by Russ]

Quote: Originally posted by LancairDriver

The data keeps coming in but is anyone listening?

you must be referencing the flat-earthers, who know there's a skydaddy that really controls weather et al!!!?)

Quote: Originally posted by worldsaquarium

About two months ago I sailed over to Punta Pulpito then up the coast to Santo Domingo and eventually Chivato, technically Santa Ines and anchored right in front of the ramp. We caught two skip jacks early morning a few miles off San Ildefonso and not one single fish after that on the way back north. I saw no bird action and only one small pod of Dolphins just south of punta Concepcion. There is no doubt things have gotten worse but I still believe there is hope. Down in Manzanillo tomorrow afternoon Mexican Sport Fisherman are going to burn their fishing permits under the Sail fish monument in protest to the illegal long line fishery for dorado and sailfish that exists in the area and the governments refusal to stop it. The blog post is below on Manzanillo, the first link has a better photo gallery of Manzanillo. I hope that this will be just the beginning of Mexicans fighting for conservation of their marine resources. http://sancarlos.tv/sport-fisherman-in-manzanillo-in-the-sta... http://worldsaquarium.com/blog/sport-fisherman-in-manzanillo...

"Destruction of the Sea of Cortez... "Owned by All Mexicans and Managed by None"

Sad but true.