In flagrant disregard for federal law, dozens of skiffs fishing with illegal gillnets swarmed the protected waters home to the most endangered marine mammal in the world this week.
SAN FELIPE, November 12th, 2019 – The Mexican Navy (SEMAR) along with Mexico’s National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP), agents from the Office of the Federal Attorney General for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA), agents from the National Commission on Fisheries and Aquaculture (CONAPESCA), and Federal Police (Policia Federal), supported by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s M/V Farley Mowat, conducted a joint operation over the weekend to remove illegal totoaba fishing gear from the waters south of San Felipe.
NEW YORK, Nov. 8, 2019 – Sea Shepherd, the world’s most passionate protector of ocean life, will be lighting the Empire State Building blue and white to raise awareness for the oceans this Saturday, November 9th. The lighting will be led by Elizabeth Lail, actor and ocean advocate, in a ceremony open to press on November 8th.
“On November 9th, transformed briefly into the world’s tallest lighthouse, the Empire State Building, illuminated with the blue and white colors of the sea, will send Sea Shepherd’s poignant and powerful message to the world; If the Ocean dies, we all die!” noted Captain Paul Watson.
“Today I’m joining Sea Shepherd to light up the Empire State Building to raise awareness ‘For The Oceans.’ Protecting marine wildlife is now, more than ever, our responsibility and commitment for present and future generations,” noted Elizabeth Lail, actor and ocean advocate.
To help promote this historic occasion, Sea Shepherd is launching Blue For The Oceans, in collaboration with Fotition. This social sharing, digital campaign empowers people to activate and share their photos to help raise awareness and funds to support Sea Shepherd’s ocean conservation efforts. The public can visit BlueForTheOceans.org where they can learn about the campaign and turn their photos #BlueForTheOceans using a variety of campaign-themed overlays and filters. They can then share their photos and encourage their family, friends, and followers, to join them in showing support for the oceans.
Most recently, Sea Shepherd launched Operation Treasured Islands. The campaign focuses on Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing in the Tropical Eastern Pacific, a two million square kilometer area extending along the Pacific coast of Central and South America. As one of the richest areas of marine biodiversity, the Eastern Tropical Pacific is also home to well-organized, industrialized poachers. WATSON, a documentary from award-winning documentarian Lesley Chilcott, chronicling Sea Shepherd’s founder, will be screening in select theaters beginning November 8th and will be airing on Animal Planet on December 12th.
Visit seashepherd.org to learn more about our campaigns, and watch the LIVE lighting ceremony on our Facebook on November 8th, 12:50PM Eastern, 9:50AM Pacific.
About Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is the world’s most passionate and powerful protector of ocean life. Since 1977, we are on a mission to defend, conserve and protect the seas and marine wildlife like no organization can. As the largest private navy in the world, we lead direct-to-action, collaborative campaigns all ‘For The Oceans.’
As you may have heard, NOAA Fisheries is considering granting a waiver to the Makah Tribe to hunt gray whales on the Washington Coast. An administrative hearing on the matter will take place at the Jackson Federal Building in Seattle, beginning at 1:00 p.m. on November 14th, and running through November 21st. We encourage Sea Shepherds and other members of the public to attend. Please note that the hearing will not be a venue for public comment or protests. However, there will be opportunities for your voice to be heard in the coming months. We will share public comment deadline dates as they become available.
Crew members on board the Farley Mowat have marked the end of a scientific cetacean spotting expedition led by Mexico’s CONANP, and the start of Operation Milagro VI with the retrieval of the organization’s first gillnet of the season inside the vaquita refuge, a federally protected sanctuary for the world’s most endangered cetacean.
In collaboration with the Mexican Navy (SEMAR), Museo de la Ballena y Ciencias del Mar, local co-operative Pesca ABC and agents from PROFEPA (Federal Environmental Prosecutor for the Environment), Sea Shepherd crew members have retrieved their first illegal totoaba gillnet inside the critical zone of the Biosphera del Alto Golfo y del Rio Colorado, a rectangular shaped 150 square kilometer area, a few miles offshore from the town of San Felipe, Baja, Mexico.
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is back in the Upper Gulf of California to continue its nearly five year commitment, under a new agreement with PROFEPA, to protect the vaquita porpoise from becoming ensnared in gillnets, as the species teeters on the brink of extinction.
New DFO data validates concerns of First Nations and conservation groups, shows 60% decline in biomass since 2016.
OVER 1700 MILES (2800 KILOMETERS) OF FISHING LINE THAT WAS REMOVED FROM COCOS ISLAND HAS ARRIVED AT AQUAFIL’S SLOVENIA PLANT TO BE TRANSFORMED INTO ECONYL® REGENERATED NYLON
MEXICO CITY, October 25th, 2019-In an official signing presided over by Dra. Blanca Mendoza Vera, Mexico’s Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society officially entered into a new agreement to support the protection and care of marine wildlife in Mexican waters.
The meeting marks heightened cooperation and collaboration between the marine conservation group and Mexico’s PROFEPA, the enforcement arm of SEMARNAT (Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources).
Captain Locky MacLean, Sea Shepherd’s Director of Campaigns and Maritime Operations, stated “Sea Shepherd is grateful for this opportunity for increased collaboration in the protection and care of Mexico’s marine species and protected areas”, concluding “we take this responsibility very seriously, and look forward to the positive results this bolstered partnership will bring in the field”.
Sea Shepherd has been present in the Upper Gulf of California protecting the vaquita porpoise since 2015 as part of Operation Milagro. Less than 22 vaquitas remain alive. The main threat to the tiny cetacean is illegal totoaba gillnet fishing.
Photo Credit: CONANP / Museo de la Ballena / Sea Shepherd
Sea Shepherd ship M/V Farley Mowat and Museo de la Ballena research vessel Narval encounter dozens of skiffs fishing with prohibited gillnets near a live vaquita inside protected Refuge
