4 Sardine trawlers off Santo Towas last week grinding aw as reported in April by Jungle Jim. "Hit the beach at Santo Tomas last Saturday afternoon. Made a right turn, went 100 feet and saw a dead sea turtle in the surf. It was an adult Olive Ridley with no obvious injuries. Went another 200 feet saw two dead sea turtles in the surf. They were one adult and one juvenile about two feet long Olive Ridley's with do obvious injuries. We started a tally sheet then stopped counting dead sea turtles at two miles of driving with eleven dead. At our turn around point we estimated at least one dead turtle every quarter mile. We drove about twenty miles up the beach that day, which means at least eighty dead turtles. We did not count the dead Sea Lions or Dolphins, but there were plenty. No animal of that size and lifespan can withstand losses of breeding adults at that level. I believe those turtles had all drowned in gill nets and trawl nets."
Some officials came down a few days and were really pissed about all the death these sea grinders have left in their wake
So the story is bad for Lobos too...the Cartel controls the shrimp poaching down here and has ordered the camps to head toward Lobos....they set up there shrimp meets and are long longing in larger numbers for Grouper on the side....
I stopped logging my death reports last summer when I was BANNED from this site as I seemed to upset the PC Correct Head-In-Sand Ostriches who always question my "drinking habits"???? WTF?? don't they know that I am a Koran spanking Muzzie? We doan ebber do no alkee haul.
Last month we did a Jeepin' beach comb along the shores of Bahia San Gorge. Didn't even bother to count the dead turtles. There were plenty. And again, lots of sea lions and dolphins. I did manage to find and get home two beautiful bleached Olive Ridley skulls that now adorn my bathroom vanity cabinet here in Yuma.
Whatever rebound that had been happening for the Olive Ridleys, with the enforcement of sea turtles killed for meat has now just been blown to sheet with the new netting methods. The fishermen know better than to keep one to take home for la familia, so they just get dumped overboard.
I'm heading down tomorrow for another Salinas Point run in my newly refurbed red Wrangler TJ. Maybe we'll meet on some deserted beach in Mex-I-Ko.
So the story is bad for Lobos too...the Cartel controls the shrimp poaching down here and has ordered the camps to head toward Lobos....they set up there shrimp meets and are long longing in larger numbers for Grouper on the side....
With all of that action down there, is it safe to be going to Lobos right now? Relatively of course...
I stopped logging my death reports last summer when I was BANNED from this site as I seemed to upset the PC Correct Head-In-Sand Ostriches who always question my "drinking habits"???? WTF?? don't they know that I am a Koran spanking Muzzie? We doan ebber do no alkee haul.
Last month we did a Jeepin' beach comb along the shores of Bahia San Gorge. Didn't even bother to count the dead turtles. There were plenty. And again, lots of sea lions and dolphins. I did manage to find and get home two beautiful bleached Olive Ridley skulls that now adorn my bathroom vanity cabinet here in Yuma.
Whatever rebound that had been happening for the Olive Ridleys, with the enforcement of sea turtles killed for meat has now just been blown to sheet with the new netting methods. The fishermen know better than to keep one to take home for la familia, so they just get dumped overboard.
I'm heading down tomorrow for another Salinas Point run in my newly refurbed red Wrangler TJ. Maybe we'll meet on some deserted beach in Mex-I-Ko.
JJ
Jim a side benefit from hell of the dead turtles up and down the coast is we have a pack of wild dogs that eat them and chase and try to bite passing atv's. Some would say good but would not like to be 10 years old or walking with city dogs when these guys show up
Jim a side benefit from hell of the dead turtles up and down the coast is we have a pack of wild dogs that eat them and chase and try to bite passing atv's. Some would say good but would not like to be 10 years old or walking with city dogs when these guys show up
I see a lot of greasy Coyote's along the beaches down that way now. They look skinny and black. It's from them crawling inside Sea Lion and Dolphin carcasses to feed. Of course they get saturated with the melting blubber. Last summer I saw two female Ridleys dead, high above the tide line that had been digging nesting holes, both had been mauled to death by dogs or Coyotes. Good luck on trying to rebuilt the population of that animal. If they aren't killed at sea, they get ripped to shreds on the beach. I saw a young Coyote a few months ago with something fairly large and dark in it's mouth. We ran him down the beach with the Jeep until he dropped it. It was a front flipper from a Ridley in pretty good shape, I almost considered bringing it home for some Cayuama Asada. Also, South of El Golfo I found a huge Leatherback Sea Turtle dead on the beach. It must have been seven or eight feet long and probably weighed in at five hundred pounds. I chopped off a chunk of the shell just as proof that they too aren't allowed to exist in the Gulf any longer.
I see a lot of greasy Coyote's along the beaches down that way now. They look skinny and black. It's from them crawling inside Sea Lion and Dolphin carcasses to feed. Of course they get saturated with the melting blubber. Last summer I saw two female Ridleys dead, high above the tide line that had been digging nesting holes, both had been mauled to death by dogs or Coyotes. Good luck on trying to rebuilt the population of that animal. If they aren't killed at sea, they get ripped to shreds on the beach. I saw a young Coyote a few months ago with something fairly large and dark in it's mouth. We ran him down the beach with the Jeep until he dropped it. It was a front flipper from a Ridley in pretty good shape, I almost considered bringing it home for some Cayuama Asada. Also, South of El Golfo I found a huge Leatherback Sea Turtle dead on the beach. It must have been seven or eight feet long and probably weighed in at five hundred pounds. I chopped off a chunk of the shell just as proof that they too aren't allowed to exist in the Gulf any longer.
Maybe see ya this weekend?
JJ
Sorry headed home Saturday morning....hauling a guys Atv that spent the night in the sea down 6 miles south of Desemboque....quite the drama it seems played out between the couple that lost it ,the owner and a Mexican guy saying it was his via salvage rights.....tonight or tomorrow morning will be interesting...
I think it is ok....if you are a local or fisherman maybe not but Americans just don't get messed with unless they deserve it if you follow the best practices list ...
I think it is ok....if you are a local or fisherman maybe not but Americans just don't get messed with unless they deserve it if you follow the best practices list ...
Jerry, I generally agree but then again, Lobos is way down there... no too many stray gringos down in Lobos besides the few sport guys that live there.
Again the bummer is the long lining for grouper is increasing as the northern fish camps are working there. shrimping and long lining when time is available.....place is safe.....
Again the bummer is the long lining for grouper is increasing as the northern fish camps are working there. shrimping and long lining when time is available.....place is safe.....
So basically I can go there but I'm not going to catch sh!t... and possibly piss off the wrong person... Corruption is cancerous
So basically I can go there but I'm not going to catch sh!t... and possibly piss off the wrong person... Corruption is cancerous
No......fishing is ok....Scott caught a flounder that was so big it was hard to believe at ST.....the fishermen are headed to Lobos because the new marine intercepted at Bird Islan is a friggin beast....fastest boat on the water I bet....
Beautiful day last Sunday 1 May 2016. Took off early, headed South to the "Y". Did a recon of facilities to include fuel and last minute essentials. The old Pemex was open but "no hay gasolina". Took the short run East to the New Pemex. They have everything to include diesel and a wine rack. Turned back West to Desemboque, pulled off the highway right to Santo Tomas and headed to La Playa. Contrary to what the Real Estate banditos say, the road is NOT fit for a car unless you have bullet proof tires and snow skis for the sand, not to mention the chuck holes on the highway that could easily swallow a burro. BS'd the guard at the Santo Tomas gate, he let us in and we went to Scottie's place to check out his fishing operation. Man alive does he have that scene tuned in. I can only HIGHLY recommend dealing with him if particularly if you are boatless and wanna kill BIG fish close to shore. Jerry was not available due to some obscure rescue operation somewhere further South on the beach.
Hit the beach in my newly refurbed Wrangler TJ, made a right turn and began our planned photodoc to be titled "Death on the Beach". So folks here is the preview:
New World Heritage Destination: "El Cementerio de los Caguamas de Sonora" (The Sea Turtle Graveyard of Sonora).
We drove six (6) miles North that afternoon from Santo Tomas to the light house and panga camp at the light house El Jaguey. We located and photographed thirty three (33) Olive Ridley Sea Turtles in the surf and on the beach in that six miles of beach. That folks, is 5.5 dead turtles per mile of beach. Multiply that by the miles back North to PP means more than five hundred (500) dead Ridley's along that short span of Sonora coastline. Now if you recall may last post of our March trip along Bahia San Jorge where we spotted a dead turtle every few hundred feet, I can only say that these are dark days for the Sonora population of Ridley's.
We did not document the dead Humpback Whale, California Sea Lions and Dolphins of two species. We did photograph an Electric Ray (my first ever) and many Bat Rays dead on La Playa.
The most disturbing thing we did encounter was an adult, five foot plus (5'+) PACIFIC LEATHERBACK SEA TURTLE, the second I have ever seen in my life. You might like to do the research and find out that there are less than 2500 of them left on earth. This animal has lived unchanged since T-Rex roamed the beaches and probably feasted on them just like the Zopilotes and Coyotes are today. To me, this is an unspeakable shame, all for the unquenchable quest for camarones.
Most of the dead still had monofilament gill net wrapped around their heads and flippers. These animals are taking a beating that they can not ever recover from. On a good day fishing we might spot one turtle off shore, but thousands dead on the beaches?
I must not omit though, it's surely a windfall for the Coyotes, Turkey Vultures, Ravens, Gulls and maggots. We saw migrating swallows hawking low at four or five inches altitude feasting on the death flies. Almost every carcass had it's contengency of Fringe Toed San Lizards, a big macho male and his har-rum of girlies feasting and guarding the stinking piles.
Beautiful day last Sunday 1 May 2016. Took off early, headed South to the "Y". Did a recon of facilities to include fuel and last minute essentials. The old Pemex was open but "no hay gasolina". Took the short run East to the New Pemex. They have everything to include diesel and a wine rack. Turned back West to Desemboque, pulled off the highway right to Santo Tomas and headed to La Playa. Contrary to what the Real Estate banditos say, the road is NOT fit for a car unless you have bullet proof tires and snow skis for the sand, not to mention the chuck holes on the highway that could easily swallow a burro. BS'd the guard at the Santo Tomas gate, he let us in and we went to Scottie's place to check out his fishing operation. Man alive does he have that scene tuned in. I can only HIGHLY recommend dealing with him if particularly if you are boatless and wanna kill BIG fish close to shore. Jerry was not available due to some obscure rescue operation somewhere further South on the beach.
Hit the beach in my newly refurbed Wrangler TJ, made a right turn and began our planned photodoc to be titled "Death on the Beach". So folks here is the preview:
New World Heritage Destination: "El Cementerio de los Caguamas de Sonora" (The Sea Turtle Graveyard of Sonora).
We drove six (6) miles North that afternoon from Santo Tomas to the light house and panga camp at the light house El Jaguey. We located and photographed thirty three (33) Olive Ridley Sea Turtles in the surf and on the beach in that six miles of beach. That folks, is 5.5 dead turtles per mile of beach. Multiply that by the miles back North to PP means more than five hundred (500) dead Ridley's along that short span of Sonora coastline. Now if you recall may last post of our March trip along Bahia San Jorge where we spotted a dead turtle every few hundred feet, I can only say that these are dark days for the Sonora population of Ridley's.
We did not document the dead Humpback Whale, California Sea Lions and Dolphins of two species. We did photograph an Electric Ray (my first ever) and many Bat Rays dead on La Playa.
The most disturbing thing we did encounter was an adult, five foot plus (5'+) PACIFIC LEATHERBACK SEA TURTLE, the second I have ever seen in my life. You might like to do the research and find out that there are less than 2500 of them left on earth. This animal has lived unchanged since T-Rex roamed the beaches and probably feasted on them just like the Zopilotes and Coyotes are today. To me, this is an unspeakable shame, all for the unquenchable quest for camarones.
Most of the dead still had monofilament gill net wrapped around their heads and flippers. These animals are taking a beating that they can not ever recover from. On a good day fishing we might spot one turtle off shore, but thousands dead on the beaches?
I must not omit though, it's surely a windfall for the Coyotes, Turkey Vultures, Ravens, Gulls and maggots. We saw migrating swallows hawking low at four or five inches altitude feasting on the death flies. Almost every carcass had it's contengency of Fringe Toed San Lizards, a big macho male and his har-rum of girlies feasting and guarding the stinking piles.
Jim, nice to meet you and thanks for documenting all the marine carnage that is happening down there. If you want some help putting together a pitch for CEDO or PESCA/CONAPESCA let me know. I am quite passionate about preserving the beautiful Sea of Cortez.
sk
Beautiful day last Sunday 1 May 2016. Took off early, headed South to the "Y". Did a recon of facilities to include fuel and last minute essentials. The old Pemex was open but "no hay gasolina". Took the short run East to the New Pemex. They have everything to include diesel and a wine rack. Turned back West to Desemboque, pulled off the highway right to Santo Tomas and headed to La Playa. Contrary to what the Real Estate banditos say, the road is NOT fit for a car unless you have bullet proof tires and snow skis for the sand, not to mention the chuck holes on the highway that could easily swallow a burro. BS'd the guard at the Santo Tomas gate, he let us in and we went to Scottie's place to check out his fishing operation. Man alive does he have that scene tuned in. I can only HIGHLY recommend dealing with him if particularly if you are boatless and wanna kill BIG fish close to shore. Jerry was not available due to some obscure rescue operation somewhere further South on the beach.
Hit the beach in my newly refurbed Wrangler TJ, made a right turn and began our planned photodoc to be titled "Death on the Beach". So folks here is the preview:
New World Heritage Destination: "El Cementerio de los Caguamas de Sonora" (The Sea Turtle Graveyard of Sonora).
We drove six (6) miles North that afternoon from Santo Tomas to the light house and panga camp at the light house El Jaguey. We located and photographed thirty three (33) Olive Ridley Sea Turtles in the surf and on the beach in that six miles of beach. That folks, is 5.5 dead turtles per mile of beach. Multiply that by the miles back North to PP means more than five hundred (500) dead Ridley's along that short span of Sonora coastline. Now if you recall may last post of our March trip along Bahia San Jorge where we spotted a dead turtle every few hundred feet, I can only say that these are dark days for the Sonora population of Ridley's.
We did not document the dead Humpback Whale, California Sea Lions and Dolphins of two species. We did photograph an Electric Ray (my first ever) and many Bat Rays dead on La Playa.
The most disturbing thing we did encounter was an adult, five foot plus (5'+) PACIFIC LEATHERBACK SEA TURTLE, the second I have ever seen in my life. You might like to do the research and find out that there are less than 2500 of them left on earth. This animal has lived unchanged since T-Rex roamed the beaches and probably feasted on them just like the Zopilotes and Coyotes are today. To me, this is an unspeakable shame, all for the unquenchable quest for camarones.
Most of the dead still had monofilament gill net wrapped around their heads and flippers. These animals are taking a beating that they can not ever recover from. On a good day fishing we might spot one turtle off shore, but thousands dead on the beaches?
I must not omit though, it's surely a windfall for the Coyotes, Turkey Vultures, Ravens, Gulls and maggots. We saw migrating swallows hawking low at four or five inches altitude feasting on the death flies. Almost every carcass had it's contengency of Fringe Toed San Lizards, a big macho male and his har-rum of girlies feasting and guarding the stinking piles.
Oh well,
Tomorrow will be another day.
JJ
capt. k said:
Jim, nice to meet you and thanks for documenting all the marine carnage that is happening down there. If you want some help putting together a pitch for CEDO or PESCA/CONAPESCA let me know. I am quite passionate about preserving the beautiful Sea of Cortez.
sk
Damn I missed meeting Jim! Scott,Jim and Mexican Joe you would have all been welcome company ( well maybe not I would have had to split the 150 bucks) picking up a recovered from the sea Atv at a Campo near Desemboque.His "friends" we're no where in sight,he opened the gate with a bolt cutter and we loaded it up and I dropped it off in Why on to another sketchy looking dudes trailer....kid was sort of awesome and the girl friend that got it stuck in the first place was that kind of crazy trouble you dreamed of having in your life at 25.......I love Mexico.....
When I was at Pacific Sea food last week they sold me tuna steaks. $2 each and they were big enough that I would split one. They told us how to cook it. Haven't tried it yet but have high hopes. Anyone bought them?
This is terrible to hear. Would one of you be willing to email Sea Shepherd with your continuing observations? They've been doing great work against the gill nets for totoaba and trying to protect vaquita:
Do you or Jerry have any thoughts on what is going on at the panga camp at El Jaguey?
Man alive what an operation, all the latest hi-tech stuff for some get serious shrimp killin. New pangas with new Yamies, new 4x4 trucks, a forty foot tall radio beacon on the light, big antennas on the pangas and antennas on the nets.
As we made the approach a bunch of the pangeros really got a quick case of the stink-eye when they saw us approach. We put away the cameras and put on our "old dumb gringo" routine, chatted with em a bit and that kinda took the edge off of the scene.
The fleet was just coming in with tide and they were using brand new launch and recover trailers to bring em in and up the beach, lining em up in a long row at the foot of the dunes. Their trucks, mostly newer lifted big-footed things pulled out into four feet deep or more water and were getting slammed up pretty good by the waves. One truck got swamped and quit with his trailer and panga in tow. Immediately a black Caddy SUV raced out there put a chain on the pickup and drug the whole rig: truck, trailer and panga up the beach.
They were using drum mounted monofilament tangle nets to obviously target shrimp, but had good loads of edible by catch to include a lot of foot long Sierras and some smaller Snappers. We did manage to convince them to sell us twenty gigantic Gulf Blue Shrimp for two hundred pesos. Four of them sauteed in Coconut Oil made us a feast that night.
I might mention, this was 4 PM 1 May 2016, shrimp season ended at midnight 30 April 2016 sixteen hours earlier.
Your suggestion sounds to me like a guaranteed terminal case of instant lead poisoning delivered by a Fast & Furious AK-47.
The big Croaker swim bladder business brings in millions of pesos to the PP and El Golfo economies. I'm surprised that the Shepherd boats haven't been taken out with a couple of RPG's...........................................yet.
How does the old Sinatra chick's boot song go..."you been messin where you shouldn'da been messin"..............
And, I saw a trawler fully rigged draggin the bottom about a mile off shore from Campo Las Brisas, not very far South from El Golfo this last Monday afternoon 2 May 2106, two days after the end of the shrimpin season.
Your suggestion sounds to me like a guaranteed terminal case of instant lead poisoning delivered by a Fast & Furious AK-47.
The big Croaker swim bladder business brings in millions of pesos to the PP and El Golfo economies. I'm surprised that the Shepherd boats haven't been taken out with a couple of RPG's...........................................yet.
How does the old Sinatra chick's boot song go..."you been messin where you shouldn'da been messin"..............
And, I saw a trawler fully rigged draggin the bottom about a mile off shore from Campo Las Brisas, not very far South from El Golfo this last Monday afternoon 2 May 2106, two days after the end of the shrimpin season.
JJ
That doesn't sound good... Yikes! I guess gone are the days of the romanticized "artisanal fisherman". Any chance you could post photos of the dead sea life?
Sadly the artisan panga fleets are doing real damage.....there is no hope.....we will soon be like Greece....happy to catch fish you would consider bait 30 years ago.
Jerry, sounds like you need to re-title this thread to "Santo Tomas fleet killing the Sea of Cortez". El Jaguey sounds like quite an operation!
when they set up the no fishing zone to the North the worst of those muckers moved south and bit by bit inserted extra pangas in our areas.They also brought their narco affiliations.This increased the death and almost got me shot last May.Things have chilled out since and if you watch yourself at and after dusk you will be ok, but these El Golfo guys are bad asses and like J.J. Says the money is to big to get in the way of..
Two thoughts:
1. I doubt the illegal summer shrimping is what is wiping out the turtles. These guys shrimp in quite shallow water (1/2 mile from shore) and pull their nets about every 10 minutes so fish don't eat the shrimp caught in their nets. I believe the turtles are being wiped out by the big commercial longliners, trawlers and seine netters further out.
2. Lets say the illegal summer shrimping (going on during the spawn) cause a 50% drop in the population of shrimp in the Sea of Cortez. Now legal commercial trawling for shrimp during the winter months becomes unprofitable, so most of the boats stay in the harbor. Yeah! These are the guys that really hurt the eco system. They trash all the reefs and rock piles dragging their nets over them and shovel 16 lbs. of dead by-catch over the side for every pound of shrimp they catch. We also see a big spike in dead turtles whenever they are out there.
I certainly don't condone the illegal summer shrimping, but there might be a silver lining.
Saw about a dozen dead turtles east of Encanto last week on 2 miles of beach between Encanto & Dorado. Wondered if any were from the nest that hatched in our dunes. Sad situation.
We did pretty good this last spring on YT in Lobos. Our best weekend was 30 with 22 that averaged 20 lbs. The Sardi numbers are definetly down. Still lots of sierras, bonitas and of course triggers.
Sorry about the gi-normous pix above, but I'm screwin around on how to present last weeks death row in a scrapbook type of format.
You all might take note that the last photo of the belly-up turtle has three eggs showin that I picked out of the carcass. I could see dozens more inside. One amazing thing to take note of is just how much meat is on that beach. Several tons at a minimum. There is so much that the scavengers get to pick and choose depending on what's best in their opinion. First choice from what we have been seeing is the California Sea Lions, thin skinned with gobs of blubber and easily accessible meat. Second would be the dolphins, again thin skin, gobs of blubber and meat. Thirdly would be the Humpback Whale, that boy has probably fed those beachcombers for many months now. The sea turtles are a challenge though, with the bony carapace, plastron and head and only heavily scaled legs and flippers to pick at. The turtle carcasses must last a lot longer due to the difficulty of getting inside them.
And Scottie, I don't believe the panga tangle net shrimpers are responsible either. Those nets have floats on them and are are light weight and only hang down a few feet. I think that a larger turtle could still get to the surface to breathe. I do think the purse seiners and trawlers do most of the killing. There is a way to stop this, how about cameras documenting every haul so that someone can actually see the carnage? And the sixteen to one ratio that you mentioned is way off.
I had the "pleasure" to volunteer to crew on one of the trawlers owned by the Balboas family that used to own the restaurant in the harbor. At that time I was also renting dock space from them. Aside from being just about the most boring two or three days in my life each time that I went, the excitement when those huge bags got dumped on the deck was something else. Day or night the most important thing was to sort out the shrimp, if there even were any. The beggar birds swooped in like a horde, Brown Pelicans, Brown Boobies, Blue Footed Boobies, Sooty Shearwaters and gulls of a half dozen species. They were oblivious to the deck hands, with only food on their minds. The deck hands would grab those birds by the head and sling em overboard while more were coming in.
The first thing you saw in the pile was stingrays, lots of them, they were first over the side. Next, baskets were brought up so sort out the "good" fish, snappers, triggers and small groupers were usually saved. Then there was the "junk "fish, toadfish, small rays, lizardfish, and eels. "Over the side with em". Then there were the crusteacens, Blue Crabs, Box Crabs huge Hermit Crabs and Giant Mantis Shrimp. "Over the side with em" Then there were the mollosks, Clams, Swimming Scallops and Giant Penn Shells. "Over the side with em". Then there was the "Crapola", old tires, balled up rope, cinder blocks, rocks, soft corals, sea fans and more. This stuff was set aside to dump in areas where they couldn't scour the bottom, mostly rock reef areas. Finally you could see the shrimp and there were never very many of them.
The PP commercial shrimping was almost wiped out by a disease they called "white spot" a few years back. This was introduced around 1998 to 2000 when the shrimp farms were built North of El Golfo. Those guys brought live wild caught shrimp flown to Yuma all the way from Venezuela to use to supply the eggs that were raised into larva that were put into the huge square ponds that you can still see from outer space! A few extra high tides later and guess what? The diseased Venezuelan shrimp escaped into the Sea of Cortez and almost wiped out the commercial native species in barely two years.
Anyways, I gotta go fire up the barbie as Mrs. Willy is just Jones'n for a half dozen of those giant Gulf Blues that we got last weekend at El Jaguey.
Sorry about the gi-normous pix above, but I'm screwin around on how to present last weeks death row in a scrapbook type of format.
You all might take note that the last photo of the belly-up turtle has three eggs showin that I picked out of the carcass. I could see dozens more inside. One amazing thing to take note of is just how much meat is on that beach. Several tons at a minimum. There is so much that the scavengers get to pick and choose depending on what's best in their opinion. First choice from what we have been seeing is the California Sea Lions, thin skinned with gobs of blubber and easily accessible meat. Second would be the dolphins, again thin skin, gobs of blubber and meat. Thirdly would be the Humpback Whale, that boy has probably fed those beachcombers for many months now. The sea turtles are a challenge though, with the bony carapace, plastron and head and only heavily scaled legs and flippers to pick at. The turtle carcasses must last a lot longer due to the difficulty of getting inside them.
And Scottie, I don't believe the panga tangle net shrimpers are responsible either. Those nets have floats on them and are are light weight and only hang down a few feet. I think that a larger turtle could still get to the surface to breathe. I do think the purse seiners and trawlers do most of the killing. There is a way to stop this, how about cameras documenting every haul so that someone can actually see the carnage? And the sixteen to one ratio that you mentioned is way off.
I had the "pleasure" to volunteer to crew on one of the trawlers owned by the Balboas family that used to own the restaurant in the harbor. At that time I was also renting dock space from them. Aside from being just about the most boring two or three days in my life each time that I went, the excitement when those huge bags got dumped on the deck was something else. Day or night the most important thing was to sort out the shrimp, if there even were any. The beggar birds swooped in like a horde, Brown Pelicans, Brown Boobies, Blue Footed Boobies, Sooty Shearwaters and gulls of a half dozen species. They were oblivious to the deck hands, with only food on their minds. The deck hands would grab those birds by the head and sling em overboard while more were coming in.
The first thing you saw in the pile was stingrays, lots of them, they were first over the side. Next, baskets were brought up so sort out the "good" fish, snappers, triggers and small groupers were usually saved. Then there was the "junk "fish, toadfish, small rays, lizardfish, and eels. "Over the side with em". Then there were the crusteacens, Blue Crabs, Box Crabs huge Hermit Crabs and Giant Mantis Shrimp. "Over the side with em" Then there were the mollosks, Clams, Swimming Scallops and Giant Penn Shells. "Over the side with em". Then there was the "Crapola", old tires, balled up rope, cinder blocks, rocks, soft corals, sea fans and more. This stuff was set aside to dump in areas where they couldn't scour the bottom, mostly rock reef areas. Finally you could see the shrimp and there were never very many of them.
The PP commercial shrimping was almost wiped out by a disease they called "white spot" a few years back. This was introduced around 1998 to 2000 when the shrimp farms were built North of El Golfo. Those guys brought live wild caught shrimp flown to Yuma all the way from Venezuela to use to supply the eggs that were raised into larva that were put into the huge square ponds that you can still see from outer space! A few extra high tides later and guess what? The diseased Venezuelan shrimp escaped into the Sea of Cortez and almost wiped out the commercial native species in barely two years.
Anyways, I gotta go fire up the barbie as Mrs. Willy is just Jones'n for a half dozen of those giant Gulf Blues that we got last weekend at El Jaguey.
Later,
JJ
The Agua chili La Curva is pretty good sometimes too when you are down that way
Saw the recent fish pix on your facebook pages. You might consider removing them pronto. The five fish are T. macdonaldi not A. nobilis. T is easily identified by the pointy or convex shape of the tail. A is easily identified by the inward curved or concave shape of the tail. A, when fresh, has a purple/brown band running the full length of the top of the fish with a hint of six or seven dark vertical bars on the sides. T has none of these markings, juvenile T has small black spots all over the sides. A is the only croaker with a defined ridge of scales running the length of the belly. T is chunkier than the more slender A.
A few years back, fishing outa Gonzaga Bay on the other side of the Gulf I ran into a record sized school of juvenile T's that looked exactly like yours. We were targeting Yellowtail but had to quit because all we could hook were those pesky T's.
Both are damed good eatin'................
Maybe see you this weekend since the weather looks like it might be better for Jeepin' than Fishin'.
