Ship: Seahorse
Name: RPH
Date: 31/03/23
Ship’s Activity: Monitoring
Table 1. Small Fishing Boat counting was done on the 31 of march from 00:00 to 23:59 with radar observations. The hours not represented in this table correspond to hours when no boats were seen in the ZTA or outside.
| Hour | Pangas Inside ZTA | ||||
|
Total |
Net Fishing | Divers | Potential Net Fishing | Crossing | |
| 06:00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 07:00 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 08:00 | 18 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 09:00 | 18 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 10:00 | 18 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 11:00 | 20 | 2 | 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 12:00 | 20 | 2 | 17 | 0 | 1 |
| 13:00 | 20 | 2 | 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 14:00 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15:00 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16:00 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 17:00 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Hour | Pangas ZTA Buffer Zone | |||
|
Total |
Net Fishing | Divers | Potential Net Fishing | |
| 08:00 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 09:00 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 10:00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 11:00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 12:00 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 13:00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 14:00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 15:00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 16:00 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 17:00 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 18:00 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 19:00 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Hour | Pangas Outside ZTA | |||
|
Total |
Net Fishing | Divers | Potential Net Fishing | |
| 06:00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 07:00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 08:00 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 09:00 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 27 |
| 10:00 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 25 |
| 11:00 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 25 |
| 12:00 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 13:00 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 16:00 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 17:00 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| 18:00 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 39 |
| 19:00 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
Total number of different small boats fishing today in the ZTA:3
Total number of different small boats fishing today in the ZTA Buffer Zone: 14.
Today we started observing the entrance of the small fishing boats around 6:20 am, most of them coming from San Felipe and getting to the center of the ZTA, we confirmed the cluster of boats in the center were divers. More Divers kept arriving in the area. The interceptor started to patrol the area.
Around 10:50 we observed on the radar 2 stationary boats in the Center North area of the ZTA. We launched the drone to confirm they had fishing nets inside the water. We got the boat data and reported it to the navy, they sent the interceptor. We started to approach and the fishing boats left the ZTA going to the North of the Vaquita Refuge. We stayed to confirm they didn’t leave any net in the water.
At 11:38 we detected 2 boats going in and out of the ZTA in the East corner, we approached the area and discovered flags from fishing nets inside of the ZTA. The fishing boats were hiding/waiting in the yellow buoy that limits the ZTA area. Again we contacted the Navy and the interceptor was on the route around 12:13. At 12:27 the interceptor arrived at the first flag inside the ZTA, they started to pull the net and some minutes later one of the boats close to the buoy started to go in the navy direction. Once they arrived at the net, the fishing boat cut the net from the navy and went to the other buoys to start pulling. The second boat arrived at the net too and started to talk with the navy and later pulled the net from the other flag. With the aerial view of the drone, we confirmed the presence of a Large shark inside one of the boats. The Navy interceptor remained in the area but didn’t pull the nets from the water. Around 13:17 the interceptor left the area and the two boats kept pulling their nets inside the ZTA. The boats finished pulling their nets and moved to the buffer zone outside of the ZTA.
The navy came back around 14:30 and stayed for around 20 minutes patrolling the area.
Divers stayed inside the ZTA until 14:00 hours when they started to go San felipe.
A larger number of fishing boats arrived at the Vaquita refuge in the northwest around 9:00 hours, they stayed until around 18:00.
Figure 1. Small Boat activity in the ZTA today 31 of March.
Figure 2. Radar screenshot at 12:54, Navys interceptor with the target 32 removing .
