Barren Reefs

See Why the Reefs Around La Paz, BCS
are Barren, Dirty and Without Fish or Soft Corals

The following videos show the barren reefs around the lower gulf islands in the Sea of Cortez and explain what happened. These short videos show you how barren the reefs are and why. A large part of the destruction has been caused by pistoleros and encerradores. Since the reef cleaning grazers, parrotfish and surgeon fish have been eliminated the reefs around La Paz are no more than dirty algae covered rocks with no soft corals and no fish.

The reefs are without fish in general and in particular the two critical fish needed for healthy reefs, Parrotfish and Surgeon fish that eat the algae and in the process scrape off the dirt that covers the rocks. The main reason the reefs are without fish is due to two types of illegal fishing: pistoleros and encerradores. See the video below to really understand the damage they have done. It started in the mid 1990’s.

These practices are now illegal as a result of a new regulation recently published in DOF (Diario Oficial). The new regulation added in norma 064 bans nationally the use of hookah and any form of compressed air for fish extraction. SeaWatch, Director and attorney Maria Ugarte, in 2009 sponsored and got a new federal regulation in Norma 064 passed prohibiting the use of hookah or any source of compressed air for fish extraction. While in effect since 2009 in BCS it took the Federal Government until Feburary 2015 to publish it in the DOF.

No compressed air for fish extraction.

November 11, 2015

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SeaWatch Dream Come True

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