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[*] posted on 3-9-2005 at 03:53 PM
NRDC picks Sea of Cortez for action

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/politics...

Associated Press
Mar. 08, 2005

SAN DIEGO - Overfishing in Mexico's Gulf of California is pushing the world's smallest porpoise toward extinction and threatening marine life in the unique ecosystem, according to a U.S. environmental group.

The Natural Resources Defense Council on Tuesday declared the gulf one of its targeted "Biogems" and announced a campaign to save the porpoise, the vaquita marina, and restrict fishing, particularly of shrimp.

Each year, the New York-based council names 12 BioGems, wildlands in the Americas that it says are threatened by development. This year's Biogems stretch from the Arctic Circle to the Patagonia Coast of Chile.

The gulf, which separates the Baja California Peninsula from Mexico's mainland and also is known as the Sea of Cortez, is home to a large shrimping industry that sends most of its catch to the United States. In recent years, shrimp has overtaken canned tuna as the most popular seafood in America.

The average American eats four pounds of shrimp per year, according to the National Fisheries Institute. The majority of that is imported from Asia, but chefs often favor wild Mexican shrimp.

The vaquita marina, a gray porpoise that grows to just under five feet in length, is sometimes caught in fishing nets and its habitat is damaged by shrimpboats that trawl the sea floor, according to the council. Only 500 of the porpoises are thought to exist.

Ari Hershowitz, Latin America director for the BioGem campaign, called on the Mexican government to crack down on unlicensed fishing and restrict the use of shrimp nets in the porpoise's habitat. He added that fishing cooperatives should be given ownership of specific regions to increase incentives for species conservation.

He urged the U.S. public to demand upgrades in shrimp harvesting, which the industry said already is being done.

"Unless there is concentrated pressure from consumers, nothing is going to change," Hershowitz said.

The council specifically laid blame with the Mexican government and Ocean Garden, a San Diego company owned by Mexico's foreign trade bank which is the largest exporter of shrimp from Mexico to the United States. The council blames them for contributing to lower fish counts and the increasingly fragile status of the world's most endangered porpoise.

Fishing industry officials described the concerns as overblown, while Mexico's government said it is trying to address the complaints.

John Filose, vice president at Ocean Garden, said Mexico is making a solid effort to maintain ecological resources in the 700-mile-long gulf. He insisted that his company and the fishermen have more of a stake in the gulf's future.

"They just don't go out there and rape the resource because the resource is their livelihood," Filose said of the fishing crews. "Without the Sea of Cortez, we don't have a business and the fishermen don't have lives."

ON THE NET

http://www.savebiogems.org/

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