expat2B
Junior Nomad
Posts: 45
Registered: 11-8-2004
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Dead pufferfish
Last week, we saw a profusion of dead pufferfish washed up on the beaches east and southeast of La Paz. Was curious if this is commonplace or not, or
possibly seasonal (storm-related?). The carcasses looked pretty bleached, so I'd guess they were 1-2 weeks old? Here's a picture of one...
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Jack Swords
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Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: Nipomo, CA/La Paz, BCS
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Pufferfish deaths
Very common on the beaches this time of year. Also found floating in the Sea upside down, but still alive. Seems to be related to the annual
die-off of algae that you see this time of year washing up on the beaches around La Paz. I suspect the pufferfish is eating dying algae and the
decomposition gasses in its stomach float it upside down to the surface and it is at the mercy of the winds and tides. I've tried to replace them
when they are alive, but it is futile. Releasing the gasses with a puncture would probably lead to bacterial infection. Nature's way, I guess.
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expat2B
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Jack, thanks for the feedback and perspective. The first ones we noted were near a well-used panga put-in pull-out, so I initially assumed they were
discarded fishing/netting spoils. As we explored more far-flung beaches, realized this die-off was a widepread phenomenon. Algal blooms were abundant
and your explanation makes a great deal of sense. Mil gracias.
P.S. Be careful walking barefoot (which you probably are anyway) -- daughter stepped on one that was half-buried in sand -- the spines are painful.
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Osprey
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Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
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Pufferfish
It's shrimping time. The Cameroneros, shrimp trawlers might now be active just outside of La Paz. The ones working right in front of my house at
East Cape (La Ribera) always cause an unusual number of floaters/beached puffers -- it's probably the biggest part of their bycatch.
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mrchuck
Junior Nomad
Posts: 82
Registered: 11-6-2002
Location: Gun Barrel City, TX
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Osprey is absolutely correct!!
The net draggers catch them, the puffers puff uf as they do when agitated, the nets are cleansed of them, and the puffers wash up on the beach.
Simple as that.
Get rid of the trawlers!! Totally illegal to trawlwithin 50 miles of any shore.
But Mexico is Mexico, and we know Mexico!
Saludos,,,,,mc
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expat2B
Junior Nomad
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kinda' sad explanation
Thanks, mc - the puffers were nearly uniformly distributed along every beach we walked, from La Ventana on the south, around the peninsula, and
southwest to LP. I'm not very good at i.d.'ing fishing vessels, but saw several in the commercial Pichilingue harbor that had large booms on either
side with attached nets - do you think those were net draggers?
[Edited on 2-5-2005 by expat2B]
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Pescador
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Registered: 10-17-2002
Location: Baja California Sur
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This time of the year you will see two types of boats out there and they both dump their bycatch. The ones with the booms on the sides are shrimp
boats and they usually pull at night, and when they pull a net they bring up an unbelievable amount of bycatch, everything edible and saleable goes in
the hold, everything else goes overboard. The pangas know this and watch them when they are dumping and fish right behind the boats. The fish know
it too and they are there feeding.
The other boat is a trawler with a big purse net and they do pretty much the same thing.
You can follow those slick lines from the dumped bycatch sometimes for a very long ways.
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