Mike Humfreville
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Posts: 1148
Registered: 8-26-2003
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Saving Baja
Saving Baja
I have already mentioned several places (Fred?s board/Baja With Mike/Whale Watching 101, etc.) the story about Rubi from Laguna San Ignacio who is
busy in her sea turtle conservation program, where she had been trained and then re-introduced into her small rural community to help the local
fishermen understand the need for a ?balancing act? between humans and other elements of nature. But I haven?t told other aspects of the story. On
our recent trip to Bahia de Los Angeles several events occurred that are worth mentioning and are related to conservation.
On entering town our first evening there we stopped at Las Hamacas for dinner before heading out to camp. Mary Ann and I shared an order of pescado
empanizado with each other and a small conversation with several others. One friend told us that Carolina was showing Ocean Oasis two nights over the
coming week. We attended on the first opportunity and watched this great movie from the very place where most of it was filmed. The musical score
and the wonderful cinematography worked together to make more complex my love for Baja California and her magnificent displays of nature. It made me
want to freeze-frame and shrink-wrap the peninsula.
The next day we went with some friends out to Antonio?s turtle sanctuary. He happened to be there and a crowd had gathered so he launched into a
presentation supported by printed slides and viewgraphs that discussed the lives of Leatherback turtles whom originate in Asia and migrate for a time
to Mexico because food is so prevalent there. The Leatherbacks cross the Pacific Ocean to eat. Imagine that. After a few years they head home
again, to reproduce and then whisper into their children?s ears about the magic of Baja. This information fills me with respect for a beast that is
such a navigator, an animal we think of as non-thinking who can swim the largest ocean and back again just to feed for a few teenage years. How could
we not respect that?
A few nights before we left the village at Bahia, we had dinner in our truck, parked at the village plaza. It was cold and almost raining and Mary
Ann waited in Vaca Blanca while I shivered and ordered Mexican hot dogs at Rainas taco stand. I was asking them how they were enjoying the bay; they
had transported themselves across the Gulf of California three years ago in search of employment. They were happy to have found the tiny village. As
conversation slowed I noticed a small brochure, about 5 by 7 inches and 10 pages thick. It was positioned prominently in their small ordering window
and I picked it up, started to thumb idly through it, until I caught the full impact of the document. It carried a message regarding the conservation
of sea turtles. While it was written in Spanish and I could understand most but not all of it, it was obviously written at a child?s level but meant
for everyone. It seemed to be developed there in Bahia de Los Angeles, although I can?t say for certain. But the message was direct. Save the
turtles and mostly words stating why we needed to do so. There were two hand-drawn pictures in the beginning of the brochure. The first was a group
of children holding hands. Above were simple words about the innocence of children. The second illustration was one of turtles rather than children.
The words above were similar. Perhaps our children actually will save the world. If we can?t manage it.
There are many more examples of how the people of Baja California are becoming aware and working toward conservation. A larger example might be in
the new fishing conservation plan that was passed just recently. I don?t personally understand it yet, but when I?ve asked others they feel it is a
well-intended act to support the limited fishing of areas so that the balance between local residents and fish population rebuilding are working
together.
If you sit on a quiet beach along the shores of the peninsula you will certainly witness death. But then, if you watch long enough, you will observe
that even in death there is a delicate balance in nature. The small beast, destroyed, will sponsor many other forms of animal and plant life. There
is no waste. Only perfection and a singularity with all.
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Steve in Oro Valley
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Registered: 11-14-2002
Location: Near Tucson
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Very enjoyable, Mike.
I last had turtle soup in 1976 in Mazatlan, in a restaurant.
On return from our deep sea fishing trip, later on that same Mazatlan trip, the capitan scooped up a large turtle with the gaff and considered it a
extra bonus for himself . Even though we tipped well and had a great success catching 3 sail fish and a large dorado, he needed more.
I still remember it flapping it's fins all the way back into Mazatlan port. After that experience, my attitudes begin to change...
The value of a living magnificent creature which was disappearing gradually became more and more evident in the subsequent years. The folks in LA Bay
should be congratulated for their efforts in conservation of sea turtles.
Steve in Oro Valley
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Anonymous
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The Turtle is an excellent meal!
At this time it is very dangerous for it to be taken in Baja. Most Mexicans respect the loss of their panga if caught with a Turtle shell or harpoon.
Hope will be that one day the turtle could return and be safely taken for a goo meal.
The Armadillo was declared an endangered speci several years ago to prevent the making of sewing Baskets.
Approx. 5 years later the Armadillos were so thick they where being killed on the highways and causing much trouble. they had over-populated.
Two edged Sword.
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Don Jorge
Senior Nomad
Posts: 656
Registered: 8-29-2003
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Thanks Mike for your contemplative and thoughtful prose.
People care and people make a difference!
On a non Baja sidebar:
Congradulations to the team at JPL! When I hear interviews of those giddy, knowledge seeking scientists basking in their disbelief of what they are
doing, I smile for hours afterwards. A task well done!
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Debra
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Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Port Orchard Wa./Bahia de Los Angeles BC
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People that are thinking dooooo make a difference
Ditto on the "side-bar" Mike, way toooooo cool! Too anyone intrested, check out the NASA site, for really amazing pictures.
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Mike Humfreville
Super Nomad
Posts: 1148
Registered: 8-26-2003
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While I claim no direct involvement in the specifics of Spirit, I am proud to work for JPL and NASA and this event comes at a time where we all need
an uplifting experience, some positive involvement to lift us above the garbage that is happening in acts of hatred across the globe. Maybe taking a
moment to find that water existed elsewhere would buoy us all. Imagine the impact if we found cave paintings on Mars like we see in Baja. Hell of a
time we'd have in interpreting a completely different lifeform. Perhaps it would cause us to widen our parameters and realize we are just a tiny part
of something so much larger than we presently consider.
Don Jorge,
The pleasure of working with JPL and NASA is based on what I learned in the enlisted Marines: 10% of the folks do 90% of the work. Now we?re reaping
the just rewards of our efforts and building respect around the world. While this won?t end the questionable conflicts between a few nations around
our green globe, it will hopefully add to our influence. Our job, in my mind, is now to ensure that our influence is not self-serving.
Go Globe! Go Celestial System. Go Universe. We win when we all win, the turtles and the rest of us! It could be done together. Consider that!
What a wonderful world it would be.
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