Monitoring Mexico’s Vaquita Conservation Plan
A rare third party view of the impact of Mexico’s PACE – Vaquita program.
May 29th, 2010 by Chris Johnson
Ani Youatt of NRDC published a new blog entitled “Monitoring Mexico’s Vaquita Conservation Plan”.
The key to any well-intentioned conservation plan often comes down to the monitoring and enforcement of it. Mexico’s plan to save the highly endangered vaquita marina porpoise in the Upper Gulf of California, Mexico is no exception. In 2008, under pressure from national and international groups, Mexico created a special compensation program known as PACE – Vaquita to reduce the number of fishermen, exchange harmful gillnets for porpoise-safe gear, and prohibit the use of gillnets in the Vaquita Refuge (see my blog here). The program looked impressive on paper, but is it working?
Thanks to two non-profit organizations, Terra Peninsular and Environmental Flying Services, we have a rare third party view of the impact of Mexico’s PACE – Vaquita program. With support from FONDO Mexicano and NRDC, the groups conducted monthly 2 day aerial surveys of the Upper Gulf during the 2009 – 2010 fishing season (October to March) to document how many boats were operating in the area and where. Below is an example snapshot of their findings which combines census information and GIS mapping.
Read the entire blog posting here:
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/ayouatt/monitoring_mexicos_vaquita_con.html
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