Interestingly enough, on February 6, 2011 Marcos Covarrubias was elected Governor. So I’m going to blow the dust off this document and remind our new Governor how important Tourism is to our state. He was just inaugurated last week. Our new mayor of Loreto, Jorge Aviles helped us gather about 100 signatures for this letter.
“Citizens of Loreto against the commercialization of Dorado and billfish. Protest letter for our representatives, senators and governor with signatures”
all together
“Presented by the independent pangueros and capitans of Loreto, B.C.S.
We are many voices with much power. Our neighbors and friends have our attention… and we’re only beginning…
“the following link will have each page of this letter and show the over 1,100 signatures in support” (pretty soon)
Off this topic -
I am going to publish more in the near future. It is interesting how this petition letter relates to what I have been observing over the past year. The words that were originally published were calls to arms for a Loretano reader of Spanish. Grass-roots calls to arms are intimately related to what I’ll be publishing in the near future. What you’ll read will surprise you and it may very well anger you too but it must be told so that we can move forward and not waste time. Peace to everyone may your seas be calm and may the fish jump in your boat.
I am hoping to gain your attention because from the message I get from the Embargo of Mexican Wild Caught Shrimp it appears that you may be able to make a difference.
Have any of you been privy to receiving an e-mail starting back in February that showed a series of images of people collecting sea turtle eggs? For those that didn’t receive this e-mail it went something like this: “look at those people in southern Mexico, collecting all those eggs from those poor defenseless sea turtles. Mexico hasn’t a clue on how to protect their own resources so why should we care about Mexico?” I am paraphrasing here.
Well the letter was sent to me in Spanish recently and I received the same recycled rumor with a similar message criticizing our own country.
I posted the last image in its true size. Get a load of the birds!
My comments to people who sent me these much forwarded threads were consistent and remain so: what about the birds? Should we chase the people off the beach so the turkey vultures can have a feeding frenzy? Are turkey vultures more important than the people? Are sea turtles more important than people?
That gets right to the point. I have eaten two sea turtle eggs in my lifetime but I wouldn’t do it again. It was on my daughters baptismal day at the party on the beach. A baptism is considered a good reason for a fiesta in Monte Alto, Guerrero where my mother in law lives. The town is located in the southern state of Guerrero on what’s known as “la Costa Chica” (the little coast), recognized for being one of the poorest areas of Mexico.
There are people who grew up collecting turtle eggs from the beach for food- my husband is one of them. So I showed him the photographs, there are about eight in the entire series. The first thing he mentioned is that the sand looked different. Also, he’d never seen that many turtles nesting in such a small area, but he remembered his older uncles describing that kind of event in the past. Then he became suspicious at how the people were all working together and said that it probably wasn’t poaching. He thought it looked like a conservation effort. And guess what? It was!
Apparently these images were taken in Costa Rica and are of volunteers collecting eggs to be hatched and later released. This was information confirmed by Dr. J. Wallace Nichols founder of Grupo Tortuguero de las Californias. I highly respect this group and know “Dr. J” from his many visits to Loreto.
Hearing Francisco’s comments of how sea turtle egg foragers protect their spots reminded me a lot of foraging for wild mushrooms along the coast of Sonoma and Humboldt counties. I competed with local Italian chefs for my Boletus edulis, and Japanese connoisseurs for the wild Tricholoma magnivelare. Yes, I had my secret spots for Pleurotus ostreatus, Tuber californicum, and Cantharellus cibarius. I wouldn’t have appreciated someone else wiping them out any more than my husband as a little boy would have given up his finds either.
In a place where there is little opportunity to make a living like along la Costa Chica, no tourism, no industry, and few opportunities for kids to go to school, one learns to live from the land or one migrates away. Harvesting sea turtle eggs and sea turtles for their meat has been a tradition for thousands of years. Just because we think sea turtles are special and cute shouldn’t give us the right to try to save them while taking away something that has always belonged to the people. We must educate and offer justifiable alternatives for them to make a decent living so they won’t need to forage for endangered sea turtle eggs (or move drugs) and so they can stay on their land. It’s the kind of story that’s been repeated in many places for many years.
We’re facing a similar story of Mexican legislators considering allowing the Dorado to be commercially fished. Opening up the Dorado to the commercial industry will only temporarily relieve some of the problems that industry is facing. This is the remedy that politicians have come up with to solve the problems of the over-worked, under-paid and heavily subsidized commercial fishing sector. But the catch is that while the commercial industry may feel a temporary stimulus from this move, the tourism sector would take an enormous hit and the resulting domino affect could cause a contraction of the entire Mexican economy.
If thousands of citizens including members and staff of NGO’s can mistakenly be outraged over some photos of sea turtle eggs, and create the enactment of an international embargo to “save the turtles”, then why can’t something be done about the Dorado issue? NGO’s and the response of the public created enough pressure on the Mexican government for them to make CONAPESCA start complying with international standards to lift the symbolic shrimp embargo. But so far nothing has been done about illegal longlining for Dorado despite the study from CIBNOR that stated for every ten Dorado caught by longliners, two sea turtles are also caught by this method.
Without making this post entirely too long I will close with the three-part series “Oro de Cortez” produced by Vince Radice of San Carlos, Sonora. The film came out in August 2009 and has been effective in getting grassroots efforts organized throughout the Baja Peninsula and in Sonora, Sinaloa, Jalisco and Guerrero. It also explains the issue of the illegal commercial Dorado industry based out of Guaymas, Sonora. Because we believe this affects our side of the Sea of Cortez, we have been working closely with Vince toward a solution that could help resolve the Dorado poaching issues.
I will describe that solution and others in my next posts. After watching the videos for the first time you will be outraged and you may shed tears but just know that we are looking at this as an enormous opportunity to make things right here in Mexico.
Next post-
The Collapse and Transformation of the Shrimp Industry: our future.
…Minerva had a plan and we had three days to put it into action.
During this entire time e-mails are passing back and forth but the calls are more important. I met with Jacinto in Juncalito. Jacinto wrote the letter we gathered over 1,000 signatures for and my speech for March 6th in Cabo. He had a difficult time figuring out the purpose of the meeting too. We decided to address our concerns as citizens on the issues we face and figured that FONMAR was a good point of discussion. I went back home and researched the observations that I have made with FONMAR as a service provider and also tallied up the money paid into the FONMAR fund when we bought fishing licenses from 2008 and 2009 (prior to spring 2008 we were required to pay CONAPESCA).
I held two more meetings with the captains on what we could do regarding the April 12th meeting. On Friday about a dozen of us gathered and the discussion went off in tangents. I was exhausted for lack of sleep because of bullshit politics within Eco Alianza (that have since been resolved thank goodness!) so I wasn’t able to direct the meeting as I usually do. At any rate we knew we needed to do something but we weren’t sure if we could even get the chance to be allowed inside the meeting room.
On Saturday I got several calls from Minerva that better explained the purpose of the meeting. She told me not to waste time preparing anything because we wouldn’t be allowed in anyway. She sent me the first draft of the presentation that Los Cabos was going to make and she sent me a copy of the presentation that Arturo Susarrey submitted.
They were definitely brewing something up in Cabo because I got more calls from Minerva. She explained that “some of us Loretanos can enter with Fransicso Cota”, the representative for the Sindicato (Union) of sport fishing boat owners of Los Cabos “as his invited guests”. Loretanos standing up with Los Cabos would add a nice touch of unity and would send the right message. Then Minerva phoned one more time to let me know Francisco Cota was coming from Cabo on Sunday afternoon. “He’ll leave very early and arrive in Loreto in the afternoon and he’ll be bringing “mantas” or protest signs. When Mr. Cota arrives in Loreto he will “call my cell and we will meet him to get the signs and coordinate”. Apparently two of these signs were still at the printer and it was already late Saturday afternoon.
A little background on “El Sindicato de Propietarios de Embarcaciones para la Pesca Deportiva de Los Cabos”. Minerva Saenz is the presidenta of this sindicato (union) and it was formed over 25 years ago. Since its inception the independent sport fishing boat owners of Los Cabos have become a formidable voice in defense of sport fishing in Mexico. If it were not for their strong efforts in the past we would not have Article 68 of the Ley Federal de Pesca which makes the Dorado, Marlin, Sailfish, Swordfish, Roosterfish and Tarpon protected from the commercial fishing and reserved for sport and recreational fishing within 50 nautical miles of the coastlines. This Article was made law in order to stimulate tourism, which just happens to be Mexico’s fourth largest economic contributor. But now this issue is getting too big for Los Cabos to confront alone and CONAPESCA is making headway. Los Cabos needs the help of other communities and we all need to unite so as to be an overwhelming voice for our interests at the national level.
The Sindicato de Propietarios de Embarcaciones para la Pesca Deportiva de Los Cabos has been very vocal on state and federal levels including testimonials and presentations in front of the senate and house of representatives. They have also been visual and confrontational. The most notorious case was with the passing of the Shark Norma 029 which allows smaller commercial fishing vessels to set lines within the 50 mile protected zone. This loophole in the name of “conservation” and even backed by Greenpeace and Defenders of Wildlife (clueless NGO’s, and more clueless NGO’s) is what has contributed to a very noticeable decline in sport fish catch results off Los Cabos and La Paz. On meeting in Los Cabos, Ramon Corral the head of CONAPESCA was faced with banners saying nasty things about his being a crony for commercial interests in light of NOM 029 and a boat was burned in protest inside the Cabo San Lucas marina.
We were made to understand that this meeting (minutes) of the “state council of fisheries” was being held in Loreto because with the “representative” they chose (Arturo Susarrey), the swiftness of its coordination and of course those nice distractions at the marina, no resistance would be encountered. This is a political thing (PRD) and Mr. Arturo likes to play politics and in fact states that he is “a friend of the governor”. It’s likely that thousands of people say that they are “a friend of the governor”. Name dropping has evolved to a strangely recognized, believed and highly specialized art form in Mexico. With their guy in Loreto “representing” “us”, they expect and uneventful event.
Las Mantas
Fransicso Cota must have set off from Cabo San Lucas pretty early because he called me at 1:00 p.m. We met him an hour later at the marina where he passed off the mantas. His family was all over the car and needed to rest, so we assured him that the people entering the meeting in the morning would see the signs. And we couldn’t wait to see the signs either!
The following day we met at the light house at 10:00 a.m. as planned the evening before. We had fajillas (1.5 inch wooden boards) to hang the two large signs on and all the other signs to be held or hung with fishing line if we decided to hang them. We were told that when a meeting of this importance takes place the property where it is held becomes public domain during the meeting. So we have the right to put up or hold up protest signs.
We drove to the Desert Inn at about 10:45 a.m. so that we could set up our signs at the main entrance and await the entourage entering the meeting. Since there are two possible accesses we made the signs mobile just in case they decided to use the secondary access over the main one. Here are some of our signs:
Ramon Corral will be remembered as the assassin of the aquarium of the world
Cousteau called this the Aquarium of the World, Mr. Corrall you are its assassin
Once we put ourselves in front of the hotel we were told to leave. We informed those eager to rid themselves of us that we were within our rights and that we wouldn’t be moving. Several police then requested we move. I had my iPhone and money ready to hand over to my husband in case we got arrested, but that never happened (whew!). Several local police who knew us arrived, and we knew it was cool when they gave us the thumbs up. Linda’s name was announced on the police radio within earshot and headquarters said “leave her alone she’s muy brava“. So they left us alone and they were cool with us we had fun and so did they. The manager of the Desert Inn tried to kick us out too but we held out ground so he gave up. He was just doing his job can’t blame the guy.
Soy hija de pescador - I'm a fisherman's daughter
This is Linda Ramirez daughter of Alfredo Ramirez. It was a symbolic and powerful place for her to be doing this because about 8 years ago her dad Alfredo died of a heart attack in the same meeting room at the Desert Inn. He died defending the Sea of Cortez and Linda is continuing his fight.
Linda and I were elemental in getting those signs displayed. Most of the men folk chickened out or backed out for one reason or another. Several had to be present in the Circus at the marina. There were over thirty motors displayed which about matched the number of guys waiting in line for them. Many thought they were getting a motor. That deception was scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. and the meeting at Desert Inn didn’t start until about 11:45 a.m.
The first two signs were fresh off the presses from Cabo when we received them and the rest were brought out of storage from the NOM 029 protests. Once we displayed the signs we just hung out, joked around and had fun and ducked into the shade when we could. The men folk that did stick around proved to be most helpful while there in serving cold water and helping hold signs.
Sport fishing is constructive NOM 029 is destructive...and other messages of the like
One of these dudes wants to mayor, good move schmoozing with the fishermen during a rightful protest!
We thought it was ending when a driver started the mayor’s Chevy SUV and fired up the A/C but almost two hours later the vehicle with A/C on was still running. People buzzed all around. There were many hand shakes followed by an increasing frequency of general schmoozing, then they started to pour out. Loreto’s mayor Yuan Yee Cunningham drove right past us with our Governor sitting in the passenger seat and Ramon Corral in the back. There was no way they missed those signs. Then Linda decided that since the Guv kept all those guys waiting at the marina for over two hours, we ought to pay tribute and march behind their SUV with our sign.
The Police shook their heads, smiled and made sure nobody ran us over as they followed about 300 meters behind us. We had to fight an oncoming North wind too and really felt it when we turned the corner on Constituyentes and Lopez Mateos. But we made it to the marina just in time for the big show. The fishing men folk didn’t know what to do with us “loca cabronas”.
Below is a little clip from when I videoed while Linda was holding the other side of the sign. We were right near the street when we first arrived. Speeches were made. Rafael of Dolphin Dive Center gave an unexpected thank you speech when receiving the keys to his new motor. He said “it is nice to receive this new motor but what good will it be if our marine resources are depleted?” Good question and he was brave to express himself like that. Arturo looked at us then looked away, fiddled with his cell phone then went under the big top.
After awhile we decided to move on over to where the motors were displayed so that we could add some local color to the photos. We arrived just in time for Ramon Corral’s speech. Here’s a little video clip of that. What I don’t have is a photo of us holding up the sign. I am videoing while holding the sign.
After Ramon finished up it was the governor’s turn. Suddenly a bunch of guys with state shirts on walked in front of our sign and more of them congregated. They were standing in front of our nice sign that said “The oceanographer Yves-Jacques Cousteau baptized the Sea of Cortez as the aquarium of the world. Sr. Ramon Corral you are the assassin of the aquarium of the world”. Now why do you suppose Narciso would be offended by a little sign like that? He’s definitely seen worse.
Well what would you think two ladies holding a huge sign with wooden posts would do if it were being blocked by a dozen guys with their arms crossed? Hold up the sign over their heads of course! And that’s what we did. I hope someone got a picture this. It would have made a fine portrait.
We acted like we were fishing by holding the sign up against the North wind but its a good thing we’re both experienced fishing persons and have the stamina it took. Fighting belts would have helped though. Meanwhile the Loretano fishing men folk looked on and wondered what we’d do next.
After the guv talked it was pretty much a done deal as the importantes were fixing to leave. So we thought it would be a good idea to go for a bite to eat. As we loaded up the signs into the bed of our green Ford Ranger, Francisco and Linda tied on the “Maldita Maldicion Nom 029″ banner. According to Google Translate it means “damned damned NOM 029″ but in reality its taken to mean something a bit more colorful than that. We drove down the malecon to Macaw’s de nuevo for some burgers.
Angie's place, Macaws on the malecon
When we got to the restaurant I wanted to hang a sign on the other side of the truck because we only had the Maldita Maldicion sign on the South facing side but I was talked out of it. So we went upstairs to eat, drink and be merry and have fun talking about the day. I’m not sure what made us all get up and go over to the second story balcony to look out over the malecon, but it was timely. When the governor’s entourage with Ramon Corral and our mayor came at us from the North, they passed an ordinary looking green Ford Ranger in an empty street-side lot. When they turned the loop at the Hotel Oasis and proceeded in the other direction back towards us they had a perfect view of the “Maldita Maldicion NOM 029″ sign that was hung on the side of the truck. And since the parking stalls are at a diagonal the sign faced them dead on as they drove past. It couldn’t have been better if we had planned it. Priceless!
Now that we were able to get some laffs the not so funny part was discovered several days later. Of the thirtysomething motors that were “given away” and on display for all to see, only seven motors went to Loretanos. Of these motors, one went to an accountant named Mr. Jorge Santesteban (hmmm, he’s not of the fishing sector), another went to a municipal worker (who is also not a fisherman), TWO went to Arturo Susarrey (you know, that fisherman who’s in dire need of some economic stimulus from the Government), one went to Rafael of Dolphin dive Center and three went to other legitimate fishermen from the Loreto community. The rest were on their way to Commondu which is the other side (Pacific) of our state. The other 25 or so guys that have been waiting for one to two years for their motors were angry for having been used as props in political propaganda photos. Bummer.
On reflecting back at the recorded history of the Mexican Revolution, I am certain that those Adelitas haven’t received the recognition they deserve.
When Dorado are commercially fished in the Sea of Cortez, so am I. HELP ME!
My next post will be a challenge to you turtle huggers…you know who you are. Now its time to stand up for what you say you believe in. This Dorado initiative is a direct threat to the survival of Sea Turtles in the Sea of Cortez.
Gifts, announcements, inaugurations, fiestas and parades are traditions here in Mexico. They add color and a fun atmosphere to a daily life of constant struggle. And they are an excellent way to distract Juan Q. Publico from the real dealings which affect his life and that of those all around him.
"There's a sucker born every minute"
My friend Linda Ramirez met up with us at 10:00 a.m. at the lighthouse at the marina. She shouted “que bonito los espejitos” or “how pretty those mirrors are” as in “smoke and mirrors”. Government drones were busy preparing the marina parking lot for the big show under the big top. If this appears to fit the description of a circus just remember, there’s a sucker born every minute.
The motors were nicely lined up and ready for the Governor to present to the Loreto fishing sector. There were a little over 30 motors. But the main event was about to take place at the Desert Inn only a couple hundred meters away. The thirtysomething captains who were waiting for their motors were instructed to be present at 12:30 p.m. The big meeting, the main event was scheduled to start at 11:00 a.m.
A little background on this motor program: this is a government stimulus to the fishing sector on behalf of the state and municipal government. My husband is also in the program. Applicants must belong to a cooperative and must turn in their used motor and pay 40% of the cost of the new motor. Most of the applicants from Loreto have been waiting for one to two years. My husband has been waiting for two years. Our motor that we will be turning in is perfectly good although it has a lot of hours logged. It has been kept in excellent condition and has a lot of life left. Its value is about $5,000 USD. I inquired about buying back this motor on behalf of my NGO Eco Alianza de Loreto, A.C. but was told that the motors being turned in for this program will be destroyed. Supposedly these motors will be put into a giant metal grinder and ground up. The thought of our 90hp 4 stroke Honda being put into a giant metal grinder makes me ill.
On thursday April 8, my compañera Minerva Saenz Valenzuela called us up from Los Cabos. She explained that there was going to be a very important meeting to be held in Loreto on the following Monday. I, La Reina de Pesca was not personally invited and neither were my associates here in Loreto. However Arturo Susarrey was invited and in fact he was listed as “the sport fishing sector representative”.
We know perfectly well what that means. Unfortunately for CONAPESCA, in order to change the law that protects the Dorado, Marlin and Sailfish among others, a competent Environmental Impact Study must be carried out. This is the law of the land and may be key to solving this situation at this point in time. There was at least one study of about 200 pages that I just received that was done by CIBNOR which supports the commercialization of the Dorado. Interestingly enough, this study used data collected by illegally caught Dorado that was commercialized. How data like that can be so easily compromised is reason enough to question this study. I’ll be reading it next week and will make it available here along with my comments on it.
Here’s Minerva’s invitation to the infamous meeting and here is the agenda of the meeting. The meeting is called “Consejo Estatal de Pesca y Acuacultura de Baja California Sur”. “Consejo” translates to “Council” and the rest means “of the state fisheries and aquaculture”. So a state fisheries council is meeting in Loreto with the head of the national fish and game department in Mexico, Ramon Corral.
Ramon Corral is a pretty controversial guy. According to the FAO produced, INFORMATION ON FISHERIES MANAGEMENT IN THE UNITED MEXICAN STATES, there is a common recurring conclusion throughout: “Output controls: At present, there are no output controls in this fishery” or “Output controls: There is a quota, not included in the NOM. However, as most industrial vessels’ typical trip lasts around fifteen days and no onboard inspection scheme exists this has proved a difficult regulation to enforce.” How lovely!
“Usually a meeting of this caliber considering the high positions of the attendants would be held in Los Cabos or La Paz” explained Minerva. “The reason they’re not holding it here in Cabo is because they’re afraid we’ll confront them” she went on. At any rate I couldn’t figure out what the hell this meeting was all about, it was confusing as was intended.
If this meeting, this “council of representatives” meets to discuss the issue of commercializing the Dorado, then the arguments made will be documented into the minutes of said meeting and it will be proven that negotiation took place. Then if a drastic law were to be passed it could be demonstrated that “councils of representatives” met and came to the agreements in which said law is based. Do you see where this is going? Well so do we!
Minerva had a plan and we had three days to put it onto action.
To continue with our story a series of meetings were held throughout Mexico to discuss the issues of the commercial fishing industry and the tourism sector and sport fishing. Convincing arguments were presented and deals continue to be made.
I spoke in Spanish in front of 200 people, some of which were at least partially educated, incuding our state governor and federal representatives from several Mexican states. Jacinto the man who wrote our letter to the diputados against the dorado initiative, also wrote my speech which lasted only three minutes. Fortunately they all understood me and I didn’t make an ass out of myself, whew!
LaPamela delivers a short but effective message to listeners
I don’t remember what Arturo said because I was pretty mad at him. I do remember the five hours I spent preparing a video presentation that we agreed on because a certain someone doesn’t know how to use Power Point. I also remember how disappointed I was not to be able to show my unique uplifting message (w/sound off) because he bumped my work for “his”. Oh well that’s life at least they got to see the first three minutes. But I was hoping that the images along with my words would have stayed in the minds of the viewers long after the meeting had ended. That video presentation follows:
The next post will cover the meeting that was held in Loreto on April 12, 2010 with the Governor of Baja California Sur, Ing. Narciso Agúndez Montaño and the Head of CONAPESCA Ing. Ramón Corral.
Loreto, Baja California Sur en contra de la comercialización del pez Dorado y picudos. Carta en protesta para los diputados, Senadores y nuestro Gobernador con firmas
todos unidos
Presentado por los pangueros y capitanes independientes de Loreto, B.C.S.
Somos muchos voces con mucho poder. Nuestros vecinos y amigos tienen nuestro atención … y solo estamos empezando…
el siguiente sitio tiene cada hoja de nuestra carta y mas que 1,100 firmas de apoyo (en breve será disponible)
Edit: Loreto, B.C.S. April 16, 2011
Disculpa las molestias pero estoy mantenando este sitio web y la carta será disponible en algunas dias.
Es muy interesante que esta carta fue dirigido por nuestro nuevo gobernador, Marcos Covarrubias. Entonces me voy a quitar el polvo de la carta y recordar mis vecinos sobre ella. Juntos vamos a decedir como recordar nuestro gobernador como tan importante el turismo es para la economía de todo la gente de Baja California Sur.
Otra nota interesante es que nuestro presidente municipal electo, Jorge Aviles, recolectó mas de cien firmas para esta carta. Que bueno que hay al menos una sola persona que sabe algo sobre la economía de nuestro estado!
What I am refering to is the stupidy and greed of some of our federal representatives of the Mexican Government. Tourism is the third largest contributor to the Mexican economy (the largest is PEMEX the second is remittances from the USA). So it would be logical to protect those resources which contribute to and enhance tourism right? Well this is Mexico and few things happen here that are logical.
As CONAPESCA (the equivalent of Fish and Game in the US) has mismanaged our marine resources and favored the commercial interest’s short term monetary gains over conservation and the long term earning potential of tourism, those same commercial interests have been wiping clean the many species that swim in our seas. The shrimp industry has been impacted by the fact that they have wiped out their resource. So these same shrimpers who were traditionally not fising during the summer season have been agressively fishing throughout the year. In the summer when shrimp are not fished, other species are targeted. This has been encouraged by CONAPESCA in that they have given permission to convert their boats to long line vessels and fish for “shark” or “something else” when shrimp are not fished. Under the Shark Norma, NOM 029 a shark permit allows incidental catch. This is the loophole that allows the species which are currently protected under Article 68 of the Mexican Fisheries Law to be caught legally and commercialized. And incidently, that incidental catch is 100% in some areas during some seasons…these longliners are catching 100% protected species, mostly Dorado but also sea turtle. Most hauls only produce an insignificant percentge of the species their permit allows for.
According to the documentary Oro de Cortez, for every 8 Dorado caught, TWO Sea Turtles are also caught on these long lines. Have a look at the film! Its embedded at our Pescadores Vigilantes page and ready to watch.
So now that you have a bit of background here’s what one or more of these diputados will be debating on: they want to remove the Dorado from its protection under Article 68 and allow it to be commercially fished! Its greed, pure greed with a large helping of stupidity mixed in.
Debate in Mexico's House of Representatives (Cámara de Diputados)
About one month ago Minerva Saenz Valenzuela of Cabo San Lucas contacted me to invite me to a meeting that she coordinated with two of our state representatives in the federal government (called Diputados) and other key people in the fishing industry. In a few days time before the meeting I set up another meeting in Loreto with a little over a dozen captains. I proposed that we form an independent captain’s union. I showed them the documentary “Oro de Cortez” and then explained that the following day I needed to go to Cabo for this meeting and that I wanted three or four of them to join me. I felt that we needed representation from Loreto and a naturalized blond haired blue eyed woman with a N.Y. Spanish accent wasn’t going to cut it. They agreed, on the union too. Getting the wives and my husband to agree to allow our motley crew to travel on an overnight trip was a miracle in itself and those with Mexican spouses will understand what I mean. So with the 100% financial help from Eco Alianza de Loreto we were able to attend this meeting in Cabo during a season when we haven’t been working and couldn’t have done it ourselves very easily.
After the meeting I was not convinced that our representative from Ciudad Constituction, Diputado Marcos Covarrubias Villaseñor “got it”. He did not seem to comprehend the seriousness of this Dorado issue to us and to tourism in general but it wasn’t only me who thought this my compañeros thought this as well. Interestingly enough this same Diputado took down Captain Francisco Alvarez’ phone number and promised to contact him and us when he arrived in Loreto the following week (January 18 and 19, 2010). Well to make a long story short, Marcos was in Loreto last weekend as well (February 5,6 and 7, 2010) and we were avoided completely by him. This guy wants to be the governor. I have a natural dislike and distrust for all persons political and from the beginning he fit the mold. So I am happy that I did not spend any time trying to locate or chase this guy down. At any rate, we felt it would be best to focus on composing a good letter in protest of this dumb initiative and get as many people as possible to sign it and bring it to his attention immediately. That’s what we did.
compañeros; Magdeleno, Francisco, Minerva, Pamela y Gabriel
Captain Francisco Alvarez is my neighbor and good friend. He was born and grew up in Juncalito which is just South of Loreto and North of Puerto Escondido. He told me that his uncle was a very good writer and would compose a letter for us. We discussed the issues that we wanted to incorporate into the letter and then he took these to his uncle in Juncalito.
Jacinto Murillo Villalejo is in his late 50′s with greying curly hair and glasses. He is a slender man and not very tall and when he came over to my house he was well dressed with shiny black shoes a dress shirt and grey dress pants held up with a neat black leather belt. My neighbor Francisco came behind him and introduced him. When Jacinto was a kid he was always the smartest student in his class. He had to be transfered to Loreto because Juncalito couldn’t handle his intelect. He was always the top student and eventually went on to become the top student in Loreto, graduating with top honors from the high school. He won state and national competitions and went on to become the top student in all of Mexico. With this he was sent to Mexico City to receive the top students award of the “golden pen” with his name engraved on it directly from the hands of then Present Luis Echeverría Alvarez.
citizen's participation in letter campaign
at left: Loreto Farmer’s Market colonia Zaragoza, February 7, 2010-
Loretanos and Loretanas have our full support and sign our letter willingly.
I asked Jacinto “what do you do now?” and he answered me with “nada, just take care of the palapas of the Americanos”. For many years, decades, Jacinto saw the destruction of the sea in front of him. He’s been witness to his, his children’s and families and neighbor’s resources being taken away and sold to the quickest bidder, not necessarily the highest bidder. He had wanted to do something to save it but alone he knew that it would probably never happen. So he decided to just live a quiet life and enjoy it as best as he could. He told us that writing this letter has breathed a new life into him. Its breathed new life into us too.
So he read us the letter and of course we LOVED it. All other letters of protest generated by the fishing industry have mainly covered the exclusive needs of the fishing industry but we wanted our letter to be different. This letter explains the devistation that allowing the Dorado to be commercially fished would have on the entire economy of Loreto and all of Baja California Sur, and also the entire Pacific coastline with its tourist towns that could offer so much potential if only our fisheries resources were managed correctly, or at all. It is a fabulous letter and it was very easy to convince people to sign it.
I am very confident that this Dorado initiative will not pass the house of Representatives. I am also very impressed with the direct connection that the people of Mexico have to their representatives in the federal government. In the USA citizens do not have this same access. In addition to the direct line of communication we have with our government, there are many fairly newly formed transparency laws in place that many lawyer and professional types are just now starting to understand. These transparency and the environmental laws, our unification and constant pressure, are our weapons for a positive future.
No a la comercialización del d-OH!
at right: February 7, 2010 a full tent at the Farmers Market with sign that clearly states “No commercialization of the DO” the rest of the sign wrapped around the tent but it didn’t matter.
It may be my opinion but here is my observation on all this- the elite lawmakers think that we citizens are a bunch of illiterate, uneducated and unorganized cretins who will never figure out all of these complicated laws that are in place as our defense mechanisms. Once we ignore these defense mechanisms and when initiatives that we are against become law their response will be “you had the law on your side all this time and you chose to ignore it. Too bad, we win.” I personally do not wish to see this outcome so I and many other people like me are using our talents to educate the people on these laws and help them to get the attention of those politicos who make the policies and who represent them and me.
Our letter is a fine example of this. When we started gathering signatures for this letter, I asked Minerva how many signatures are enough and when should we send this letter off? She told me that we would get their attention with 1,000 signatures. So this number became our goal and we only had five days! We distributed it all over town and collected many signatures. As I collected completed signature pages I posted them online for all to see. Here is that page if you would like to take a look. Of course this is all in Spanish but near the top you will see a link to an English version of the letter that can be downloaded in MS Word format. Keep in mind that the English is only a slightly cleaned up Google translation and the English does not have the same impact as the Spanish. (Actually it sounds a little strange in English but believe me, in Spanish it reads like a great work of any classic English author)
All of this took enormous amounts of time and energy on the part of our Captains and myself. I am very fortunate to have the ability to digitize, program in and upload and host all of the pages of this letter for the world to see. On February 10, 2010 this letter was sent to all of our State Representatives, Senators and several Secretariats and it will be the Governor of BCS on February 11, 2010. Along with the letter the pages which contain over 1,000 signatures are attached as is the URL to the web page where this letter is displayed. The signatures are still coming. The letter is now also circulating in La Paz, B.C.S. and Dr. Villavicencio a Marine Biologist at UABCS, will also be circulating it there. The letter has been distributed in Guaymas, Sonora and Los Cabos, B.C.S. and it all started in Loreto with these “uneducated and unorganized ” independent captains.
Local captains double as time share agents
at left: February 7, 2010 at the Loreto Sunday Farmers Market, Captain Francisco “Barracuda” Alvarez Romero and Capt. Gabriel “Maurachan” Sanchez Bañuelos working the crowds like a couple of timeshare hawkers.
I would like to thank the following Captains who spent a lot of time and energy to help with this cause: Captain Francisco Alvarez Romero, Captain Gabriel Sanchez Bañelos, Captain Eulogio Davis Sanchez, Captain Fidel Alcaide Garcia, Captain Antonio Romero Murillo, Captain Victor Villalejo Higuera, and of course my most supportive husband Captain Francisco Muñoz Tenorio. I would also like to thank Minerva Saenz Valenzuela jefa of the Captains Union in Cabo San Lucas for helping us get a good start. I am proud to be fighting side by side with her in this battle. And finally Vince Radice film-maker and producer of the documentary “Oro de Cortez”. Vince has been encouraging lawmakers and officials in the United States to help us with this battle by enforcing the Lacey Act, which prohibits importation into the US of illegally captured products.
This is the very first organized force of citizens that I have ever observed in Loreto in the 14 years of our operations. Yes- I heard stories of the “old days” when Loretanos used the block the highway tactic, but that is illegal to do. I will only support peaceful, attention-getting and legal actions and am encouraging the Captains to always do the same. The internet is a powerful tool and although blocking the highway sounds like it could be fun, I’d prefer to be a fly on the wall when the diputados see our letter posted online and come to the realization that in the future there will be others like it. By God we’re being organized and we will be heard.
Talk about knock down drag out fighting!
at right: More debate in our house of representatives. I hope our female rep knows that all-important “knee maneuver” and may I add that our male reps may want to consider TaeKwon-Do classes.
Our community letter is on its way to the following people:
Senador Luis Coppola Joffroy, B.C.S., President of the Commission for Tourism, Member of the Commissions for the Environment, Commerce, Industrial Development, Natural Resources and Fisheries and US Relations
Senadora Josefina Cota Cota, B.C.S., Secretary of the Commissions for Municipal Development and Marine and Member of the Commissions on Social Development, Natural Disasters and Tourism
Senador Francisco Javier Obregón Espinoza, B.C.S., Secretary of the Commission in charge of US-Mexico international water relations, Member of the Commissions on treatment of Mexican prisioners in USA, Commercial Impacts pertaining to Aquaculture, Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries, Hydraulic Resources and Public Security
Diputada Esthela de Jesus Ponce Beltrán, Diputado Federal, B.C.S., Commissions and posts- Tourism, Marine and Gender Equality
Diputado Víctor Manuel Castro Cosio, B.C.S., Commissions and posts- Member of Tourism and Fisheries, Secretary of Public Education and Education Services, Secretary of Legal Rights and Parlamentry Research
"Should we chase the people off the beach so the turkey vultures can have a feeding frenzy? Are turkey vultures more important than the people? Are sea turtles more important than people?"
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