Vaquita actually don’t drown when they get entangled in gillnets. Despite being able to hold their breath for long periods of time, they quickly go into a state of shock and their heart stops usually before they can escape. This is a natural, but very unfortunate, reaction that eliminates the possibility of catch-and-release in gillnet bycatch.
Tag Archives: nets
News Update #3
Rocky Point’s fleet headed out on Oct. 11 for the first time in 15 years to a section of the Alto Golfo and Rio Colorado Delta Biosphere: http://bit.ly/tqkNxQ. This is very bad news. We need more money!!
Poem #7
Halt thou mesh-made catcher
Of thee porpoise, fair and just!
With coal eyes, and
Slate flanks, and
A slight hint of rust.
In azul waters
They sulk about,
Avoiding thou mesh-made catchers.
And they, in the end,
Will ultimately gain pity.
Poem #2
I swim in a place where fish float by.
Croakers, grunts, and shrimps you fry.
Silky sea grass below, shiny sun above,
But the Gulf isn’t a place filled with much love.
You catch us with nets set out for shrimp,
And at the moment of impact, our bodies go limp.
Our entire kind is quickly disappearing.
The weight of an entire species we’re bearing.
But the one thing we care about most:
Vaquita don’t have to say “Adios”.
