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Battle over shark fishing roils the waters of Baja
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20040905-9...
By Sandra Dibble
September 5, 2004
TIJUANA ? At one tip of the Baja California peninsula sits Cabo San Lucas, a world renowned sportfishing center. At the other end is Ensenada, a
commercial fishing port 90 miles from the U.S. border.
Now the two ends are at odds over a proposal by Mexico's federal government to protect sharks, an important source of food for many low-income Mexican
families.
The key issue fueling the debate is that other species end up in shark fishermen's nets and on their hooks: whales, dolphin, sea lions, endangered sea
turtles as well as highly prized game fish such as dorado and marlin.
Both sides have much at stake, especially on the Baja California peninsula, whose coasts are rich in marine life.
In Cabo San Lucas, Luis Bulnes, a hotel owner and president of the Mexican Billfish Foundation, argues that shark fishermen all too often haul game
fish out of the sea as "bycatch," and this hurts a key sector of Baja California Sur tourism.
"Cabo San Lucas would not exist if there weren't sportfishing," he said.
But Ricardo Thompson, an Ensenada fisherman and vice president of the national fisheries chamber, Canainpesca, said restrictions on commercial shark
fishing must be considered carefully because of the industry's social value.
"You have a lot of people that are making their living by fishing shark," Thompson said. "It is the fishery that provides fish to people with the
least income in Mexico."
The proposed rules, known as Norma 029, mark the latest attempt by Mexico to manage its shark fisheries, among the largest on the planet. An earlier
draft two years ago was shelved after a widely publicized outcry from environmentalists and sportfishermen from both sides of the border ? but now
it's the commercial sector that's complaining.
The rules "are based on political pressures with no scientific foundation," said Thompson, a commercial fisherman in Ensenada's port of El Sauzal.
"It's basically taking into account the power of Los Cabos people."
A working draft of the regulations has been posted on the Internet site of Mexico's Agriculture Secretariat, Sagarpa. They would eliminate drift
gillnets from Mexican waters, said Ra?l Villase?or, head of regulations for Mexico's fisheries agency, Conapesca.
The rules would also prohibit longlines within 30 miles of most of Mexico's coastline ? but in the case of the Baja California peninsula's Pacific
Coast, extend the ban to 50 miles for vessels longer than 27 feet. A single longline can carry thousands of hooks and stretch up to 40 miles.
Mexican regulators say the rules are a crucial first step toward gathering data on shark populations in Mexico, and monitoring the bycatch of other
species. The proposals still need review by a government regulatory oversight commission before they are published in the Diario Oficial, Mexico's
equivalent to the Federal Register. Once published, the public will have 60 days to comment before final rules are written. Yet, even in final form,
the rules can still be modified through notices, Villase?or said.
"For us, the right decision is to completely ban drift gillnets," said Guillermo Alvarez, the executive director of the Mexican Billfish Foundation.
"When you're using them in areas that have all sorts of mammals, and sea life, they're very poorly selective."
Central to the emerging debate on the Baja California peninsula is a provision that would allow commercial fishermen to use longlines within 30 miles
of the coastline of the Sea of Cortez. Currently, shark fishermen can operate anywhere in Mexican waters, said Villase?or of Conapesca.
The commercial fishing sector has in the past argued for setting the limit no farther than 12 miles on both the Pacific and Sea of Cortez.
Sportfishing groups are fighting to have commercial fishermen banned from the Sea of Cortez altogether.
"They get a permit to catch shark, and end up catching other species," said Bulnes, the Cabo San Lucas hotel owner.
Scientists worldwide have been calling for regulation of shark fishing since the 1990s. Shark bear few young and reproduce slowly, so any decreases in
populations are likely to have long-lasting effects.
Mexico was one of the first to take action, with a set of proposed rules introduced in 2002. The proposed rules ? then and now ? have included
protective measures such as bans on the practice of cutting off the shark's fins, and throwing the fish back into the water; the fins are prized in
Asian countries for shark fin soup. They would also prohibit catching protected species such as white sharks and whale sharks.
But the 2002 version also allowed longline and gillnet fishing less than a half-mile from shore and in specially protected zones. Faced with fierce
opposition of environmentalists and sportfishermen ? and even by Mexico's environmental secretariat, Semarnat ? the rules were quietly dropped.
The commercial fishing industry, which supported the 2002 regulations, is now finding itself opposing the new version. Baja California government
officials joined them last month in speaking out against the no-fishing zone and ban on drift gillnets.
"Why 50 miles? We want the technical and scientific justification," said Luz del Carmen Mart?nez, head of fisheries for the state of Baja California.
"We need a complete study, so they can say, 'You've got to get out,' or 'You've got to remove the nets.' "
Oscar Sosa Nishizaki, a fisheries biologist at the CICESE, a scientific think tank in Ensenada, says Mexico might do well to look north of the border
to the California coast, where management plans allow drift gillnets and longlines in certain seasons and areas.
"We have to control the fishing to protect the sharks ? that idea is not coming out very clear," said Sosa, who is serving on a technical advisory
committee on the shark regulations. "The rules are more to protect marine mammals and sea turtles instead of trying to understand what is going on
with shark fisheries."
Thompson of Canainpesca suggests dividing Mexico's Pacific Coast into five regions, "and each should create a council in which researchers should get
together and establish programs. You can't do a general rule from the U.S. border to Guatemala."
No rules can be drafted unless the various sides agree to some compromise, said Juan Carlos Cant?, who heads the Mexico City office of a U.S. group,
Defenders of Wildlife.
"You can't come up with rules that satisfy just one sector," he said.
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jrbaja
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4863
Registered: 2-2-2003
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Rather than sticking you gringo noses
where they don't belong, I suggest you busy bodies pick up a copy of a book called "Gaviotas, A Village to Reinvent the World" by Alan Weisman.
Maybe then you could see that many are doing something besides the usual whining and pointing fingers so typical of gringos.
Get a life. And one that contributes to the planet rather than just your lame arse selves!
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