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Learn more about what's going on in the Northern Gulf of California.
Conservation News: Essential Rocky Habitat Saved from Destruction
After three years of legal battles the Mexican Secretary of the
Environment determined that the Sandy Beach Resorts Marina, between
Sandy Beach and La Cholla, could not be authorized to continue. The
project would have destroyed vital rocky reef habitat. The basis for this
decision was the lack of hard scientific evidence to
state that the project would not have significant impacts on the
environment. This ruling will stop the destruction of a shallow rocky
reef that has immense ecological and social importance, including being
used as a marine reserve by local commercial divers to promote
sustainable fisheries, elevated levels of biodiversity, presence of
several protected species and its
proximity to the Upper Gulf Biosphere Reserve.
- Read more about this exciting news here.
CEDO Announces Protections for Critical Northern Gulf Wetlands
In coordination with World Weltands Day, which is February 2, CEDO
announces that Adairs Bay has been recognized as an Internationally
Important Wetland under the Ramsar Convention. Adairs Bay was chosen
because the wetlands of the northern Gulf of California
are hyper saline (saltier than seawater), have a high productivity, are
part of
the Pacific corridor for migratory birds, and serve as reproductive
sites for
shrimp, flounder and blue crab. The areas and esteros in Adairs Bay are
indispensable to the economic health of this region - especially
for fisheries and tourism. Read on here...
Sea Turtles Galore in
the Northern Gulf of California
The end of October 2008 brought sightings of four different sea turtles
offshore of Peñasco and San Felipe. Juvenile and baby turtles were observed
feeding and nesting. For the first time in the Pacific an adult Hawksbill sea
turtle equipped with satellite tagging was released to monitor migration and
nesting sites of the most critically endangered of all sea turtles.
Read more here...
* Click on the photos to view a larger, more detailed view of the turtles.
Unprecedented: Fishing Communities Retiring Their Gillnets to Save the Vaquita
In an unprecedented
move, Upper Gulf fishing communities are retiring their gill nets in an effort
to save the critically endangered vaquita. Some fishermen are starting new
businesses, others are hoping to switch gear to use more eco-friendly fishing
methods that don’t harm vaquita. Government subsidies are helping to get these businesses going, but your support will
keep them operating, click here to learn more about this extraordinary move and how you
can help...
An Update: Monitoring the Endangered Vaquita
Research is underway to test
sensitive acoustic techniques that may help monitor changes in the endangered
vaquita population numbers. Researchers from Mexico’s National Institute of Ecology (INE) and the
U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are now offshore of
San Felipe, Baja California, where the vaquita population is concentrated,
conducting research that may give us the needed tools to measure population
size. To read more click here...
Canada and U.S. Governments Join
Mexico in the Race to Save the Vaquita Porpoise
At a meeting
in Mexicali, Baja California on October 28, 2008 the North American Committee
for Environmental Cooperation announced its tri-national plan to protect the
world’s most endangered marine mammal, the vaquita. Known as the North American
Conservation Plan (NACAP) for Vaquita, it establishes a tri-national outlook
for developing actions to protect this critically endangered porpoise, of
concern to all three countries, and to support development of sustainable
livelihoods for the communities of the Upper Gulf of California, the only place
in the world where this porpoise is found. Read
on here...
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