April 3 2024 Upper Gulf of California, Mexico – March saw a flurry of dignitaries visit our campaign in the Upper Gulf, where Sea Shepherd crew and volunteers work every day to protect the most endangered marine mammal on earth, the Vaquita.
The Honorable Ken Salazar, current US Ambassador to Mexico, boarded the Sea Shepherd’s flagship Seahorse with a delegation from the US Embassy and senior representatives of Mexican government agencies involved in the campaign.
The Sea Shepherd crew demonstrated our illegal fishing detection and reporting protocols with the Mexican Navy, our process for how we search for, detect and remove deadly ghost nets from the ocean, how we use drones and other technologies to extend our surveillance across the entire Vaquita Refuge, and our Science team demonstrated how we collect all that data into a report made available to the world in real time.
US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar about Sea Shepherd vessel, Seahorse, studies a map of the Vaquita Refuge in the Sea of Cortez.
The Ambassador’s visit came days after a delegation from CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) visited the Seahorse. CITES is the multilateral treaty that protects endangered plants and animals from the threats of international trade, and the delegation spent time in the Upper Gulf as part of their analysis of international trade’s impact on endangered species like the Vaquita.
Both of these visits are significant mile markers for SSCS efforts to save the Vaquita specifically and Sea Shepherd in general, and the visits reflect the professionalism, determination and impact that our supporters have come to expect from the Sea Shepherd crews at sea. Stay tuned for more news on this campaign and all our efforts around the world to defend marine wildlife.
