2018 flashback from @mncn_csic @[email protected]

New @Conapesca commissioner will make his first visit to San Felipe on October 14, opening day of shrimp season, to listen to concerns of fishers, according to Ana García, fishing leader & Panchito guardian 🦭 x.com/lavozfronte...

1/2 Fishers are informed by @SEMAR_mx @SEMARNAT_mx @CONANP_mx & the municipal government of San Felipe that the September 2025 #vaquita porpoise survey has concluded & are thanked for their support.

Remembering Jane Goodall who did good for all, including #vaquitas x.com/seaofshadow...

This article is about work of @SeaShepherdSSCS but key message for us: "One of the starkest lessons from #vaquita conservation is the danger of sidelining the very people who live alongside the species. Fishers, for example, cannot be cast as villains; they must be partners."

Cartel news from @ZETATijuana - rupture of the Sinaloa cartel, after US captures & prosecutions of El Chapo's family (La Chapiza faction) & his bodyguard El Mayo ("Russians" or Los Rusos faction) - may further threaten San Felipe with entrance of Jalisco New Generation (CJNG).

If a sundown unconventional piano concert in the desert salt flats of Mexico's Upper Gulf of California & Colorado River Delta Biosphere Reserve has been on your bucket list, here's your chance

This Sunday as part of statewide Baja California heritage day festivities, @pescaabc & @PronaturaNoroes are among the sponsors of a #gyotaku workshop in San Felipe. Learn the Japanese art of fish prints, a bridge towards sustainability between the sustenance & beauty of the sea.

1/3 Fantastic interview with @CONANP_mx lead #vaquita porpoise expert in charge of acoustic monitoring Gustavo Cárdenas by @planetmartins for @BBCWorld 💪 citizen science: "The indispensable collaborators with scientists in acoustic monitoring are the fishermen of San Felipe."

A total of 430 pangas in Santa Clara are to be equipped with satellite vessel monitors before the start of shrimp season October 14. youtu.be/YU6yAOeQtn0?...

Satellite vessel monitoring equipment developed by @SEMAR_mx required under @CITES #vaquita #totoaba compliance action plan being installed on Santa Clara pangas (📷 @CarlosT12351108)

Good to have CONANP, SEMARNAT & CONAPESCA top officials meeting together with fisher leaders in San Felipe during the #vaquita porpoise survey

"It’s widely agreed the US has the most aggressive and successful regulations in place to conserve marine mammals...Now the Trump administration is more firmly laying down the hammer on other nations around the world too." To comply Mexico must scale up our #vaquita-safe fishing

Thoughtful short essay by Aimée Leslie @sceva271 The vaquita: the ghost of the sea that refuses to die La vaquita marina: el fantasma del mar que se niega a morir

#mymilkshake magnetism of San Felipe's Panchito h/t @Anne_Espinoza88

Windy weather timeout during the #vaquita porpoise survey for experts Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho, Gustavo Cárdenas-Hinojosa & Job Olguin to have class with the citizen science team working with CONANP, Pronatura Noroeste & Pesca ABC. It takes practice, concentration & luck to spot & ID a vaquita fin.

Gonna take some hopium for the #vaquita porpoise survey that a species so close to extinction writers have already imagined being the last one left: "The Endling" ⬇️⬇️ Has a bunch of happy world days per year, including today #DiadelaVaquitaMarina #WorldVaquitaDay x.com/MariLoliPel...

#Vaquita porpoise survey team effort includes 🎙️🌊 Hydrophones checked daily for underwater presence 🎮🔭 Drones & hi power binox for surfacing animals 17 members of the Vaquita Marina Community Observer Group from San Felipe with support of Pronatura Noroeste, CEDO & CONANP

Big news that NOAA has finally implemented Marine Mammal Protection Act requirements that foreign seafood imports be managed by comparable standards. Bans go into effect Jan 1 2026. Even more #vaquita-safe fisheries will be banned until Mexico demonstrates effective governance. x.com/NOAAFisheri...

Annual survey for #vaquita porpoise September 3 - 30 with 14 expert observers aboard 2 @SeaShepherdSSCS ships. For visual surveys very light winds & calm seas are needed because the porpoises' fins are small & they typically avoid boats. @CONANP_mx announcement video ⬇️

We appreciate & admire the San Felipeans taking responsibility for looking after Panchito, the oddball vagrant southern elephant seal who has chosen the busiest beach spot in town for his annual molt 2 years in a row. Thanks for cleaning up trash & replacing his stop sign 🛑🦭💙

Article on September #vaquita survey by @SeaShepherdSSCS. With @CONANP_mx @PronaturaNoroes & @pescaabc again we will support training of citizen scientists for local engagement & expertise in monitoring & recovering this unique, vulnerable porpoise found only off their shores.

Summer off season will come to an end, gillnets will return after the #vaquita porpoise survey in September. We will focus on community cooperation to keep it away from any areas where vaquitas are found. Editorial cartoon Victor Solis @visoor.bsky.social - Gillnets, the filter against life.

1/3 Factual record report drop - "just the facts" acc to independent body @CECweb Secretariat. No recommendations in this format, solutions are for Mexico, US & Canada #USMCA parties to devise, but given the facts around continued gillnet use in #vaquita habitat much work to do.

It's marvelous to see many San Felipeans spontaneously looking after & respecting this unique animal visiting #vaquita habitat 🙏 (& the busiest beach spot in town)

#Vaquita-safe Upper Gulf Fisheries Improvement Project FIP reinvigorated in San Felipe last month, hook & line for silver curvina with humane ikejima dispatch, sanitary processing & traceability for premium prices for participating fishers @pescaabc @PronaturaNoroes @cedo_mex

Dear Tooth Fairy please look after the #vaquita porpoises, they need all the help we can give (tooth photos from @ernesto-mendez.bsky.social via Museo de La Ballena)

Panchito: I am become meme

Panchito is starting his annual molt, a time of low activity & high vulnerability, same time & same place as last year- the tidal estuary under the pedestrian bridge at the beach boardwalk boat ramp, one of the busiest beach spots around 🤷 AMMAG's Ana Garcia cleans up his space

Trilateral @CECweb @88paolo announced in a recent interview that the Secretariat's factual record on Mexico's enforcement of environmental laws protecting #vaquita porpoise will be released in mid-August following July #CEC32 Council meeting in Mex City x.com/ArzateNotic...

It's swell to have Panchito resting in San Felipe again

So pleased to have San Felipe's famous vagrant southern elephant seal Sr Panchito Cortes return for his annual summer molt. He hasn't been seen since unfortunate harassment over Easter holiday by tourists, but has decided this is the safest place for his most vulnerable period.

Our partners work @pescabc @PronaturaNoroes with fishers is in a #vaquita mini-doc by @AnimalogicShow -well worth 20 minutes of your time. Here's an excerpt - Dr Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho's point about need for hard work by Mexico's fisheries authorities now more important than ever

Our partners had a good working relationship with @Claudiashein appointee @Conapesca Head Dr. Alejandro Flores Nava @alflona5 & are saddened by unofficial news of his resignation for health reasons. He had a serious approach to the serious problem of fishing in #vaquita habitat. x.com/ernesto_men...

1/3 Article on @PronaturaNoroes #vaquita work with @pescaabc @CONANP_mx & us to address technical, economic & social barriers hindering transition from the extensive use of gillnets to more sustainable fishing gear. These obstacles are real but don't just take our word for it... x.com/PronaturaNo...

Hope for #vaquita porpoise recovery under the serious approach adopted by admin of Mexico's President @Claudiashein - increased surveillance & science coupled with expert-community partnerships to truly develop sustainable & profitable fisheries Quote @SEMARNAT_mx @valderPliego

Upper Gulf women working to promote sustainable #vaquita-safe fisheries have enjoyed & benefited from sharing experiences & lessons with Las Guardianas del Conchalito from La Paz @PronaturaNoroes @pescaabc x.com/mroblesg/st...

Seven years after issuance of a warrant for attempted smuggling of #totoaba swim bladders in name ID'd suitcases from Tijuana to Shanghai after flight cancelation, one of the three, a Chinese national "J" Li, arrested & placed under preventative pre-trial detention in Mexicali. x.com/FGR_BC/stat...

Happy #VaquitaDay - here's to a better future for porpoises & people 🐬🙏 @PronaturaNoroes & @pescaabc in San Felipe schools #DiaDeLaVaquitaMarina x.com/CONANP_mx/s...

Press release on the July 11 meeting of the Intergovernmental Group for Sustainability in the Upper Gulf of California in San Felipe, including federal, state & municipal government authorities, representatives of the fishing communities & civil society organizations. www.gob.mx/semarnat/pre...

Also remarkable since 2022 is another CONANP initiative training & equipping a citizen science group in San Felipe for visual monitoring & surveys of #vaquita & other marine wildlife, increasing local vaquita conservation engagement & responsibility.

1/3 @ernesto_mendez for @Excelsior on #vaquita acoustic research, with their ultrasonic echolocation clicks transformed to an audible frequency (Coordinación de Investigación y Conservación de Mamíferos Marinos, Instituto Nacional de Ecología / SEMARNAT). x.com/ernesto_men...

1/2 Vaquitas are still with us! Fishers at July 11 GIS meeting shared slides from @CONANP_mx presentation on preliminary results of summer #vaquita acoustic monitoring. 1st phase (end May-end June) showed typical patterns of most encounters (≠ number of animals) in northwest ZTA

Yday meeting #GIS Intergovtl Group for Sustainability Upper Gulf of CA. Much discussed: updates on #vaquita acoustic research & Sept survey plans, reports from #CIRVA (expert vaquita group), #ECOFT (expert gear group), @SEMAR_mx progress on satellite monitoring system for pangas

Without debate 47th session of @UNESCO World Heritage Committee kept Mexico's Islands & Protected Areas of the Gulf of California on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Last year it adopted Mexico's proposed indicators for #vaquita success to remove the Property from the list.

Another cartel-linked execution in San Felipe, a close associate of fishing leader Sunshine Rodriguez was also gunned down in the street x.com/ZETATijuana...

Good news that, as with ongoing acoustic monitoring, the September visual survey will search for #vaquita porpoises outside the Zero Tolerance Area, in parts of the Refuge where until recently they were considered to have disappeared from- plus continued citizen science training x.com/ernesto_men...

Dates are set for 2025 #vaquita porpoise visual survey acc @ernesto-mendez.bsky.social - month of September with results to be announced October 21, using two Sea Shepherd identical vessels for the first time, which should enhance standardization of transects & observation distance