Muskwa’s informational video is finally on YouTube! Below you can watch the wonderful video, which has a script by me and William Whittenbury, and features some of my drawings (the ones that say Aidan Bodeo-Lomicky). The video is very well put together, with beautiful music and entertaining videography. Please watch it to learn all about the Vaquita in the spirit of National Save the Vaquita Day!
Saturday, July 6, marks enormous day for everyone in the Vaquita world. It is National Save the Vaquita Day, which we Muskwans created as a day to celebrate and teach the world about the wonderful Vaquita. We are going to have tables at in 9 cities, run by members of the Muskwa Club, the American Cetacean Society, and NOAA. Please celebrate this monumental event with us at one of the locations below.
Key: Maroon—Muskwa Club, Indigo—Muskwa and the American Cetacean Society, Orange—American Cetacean Society, Magenta—Muskwa Club and NOAA
Point Vicente Interpretive Center, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Virginia Beach Aquarium, Virginia Beach, VA
Oklahoma Aquarium, Tulsa, OK
Monterey, CA
Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, Los Angeles, CA
Maritime Gloucester, Gloucester, MA
Oregon
Point Dume, CA
Waikiki Aquarium, Honolulu, HI
If you have any questions about the event, please email William Whittenbury at wawhittenbury@aol.com.
*If you would like to buy the book, please purchase it from https://www.createspace.com/4268018 to make your donation as large as possible. It is the same price, but I get more profits (therefore I donate more) via this website than the ones below. They are only used for publicity for people who find it by chance, because a little money is better than no money.
My book is now available on Amazon and Amazon Europe! As I said above, please do not buy it from these sites (Amazon takes a much larger profit than the Create Space site above, so less money will go to the Vaquita via Amazon), unless you want the Kindle version more than a physical copy (the actual book is only $4 more). The Kindle version is $8.95, and you can get it on any device with Kindle (including the iPhone and iPad with the free Kindle app). The Kindle version definitely does not look as good as the paperback, so my advice is to just buy the book from https://www.createspace.com/4268018. Thanks in advance from the Vaquita!
Today I received my self-made Save the Vaquita t-shirts from my Custom Ink campaign. I bought one for everyone in my family, and they turned out great!
After a year of writing, illustrating, and stressing out, my informational book, “The Vaquita: The Biology of an Endangered Porpoise,” is finally available! The book costs $12.95, with 100% of profits going to Vaquita research, education, and conservation (25% goes directly to ¡Viva Vaquita!). The book was written by me, illustrated by my brother, sister, and me, edited by Vaquita expert Dr. Thomas A. Jefferson (who also provided the back cover image), and the beautiful cover you can see below was by amazing artist Memuco. You can buy it here: https://www.createspace.com/4268018, and please distribute this link via social media. Buying one or more is a great way to donate while receiving the first ever Vaquita book! It will also be available on Amazon and Amazon Europe within the next week. Thank you so much for supporting me and more importantly, the Vaquita.
Great news! Not only does the Official Norm help the Vaquita by what the regulation actually says, but also by the publicity the Vaquita is getting from it. This was proven this morning when the first story in WWF’s monthly newsletter was about the Vaquita! If you didn’t get it, here’s what it said:
“World’s Smallest Porpoise Gets a Helping Hand
Found only in a small area of the upper Gulf of California, Mexico, Vaquitas probably number fewer than 200. This little porpoise—the world’s smallest—often becomes entangled and drowns in drift gillnets used by fishermen to catch fish and shrimp. WWF has been working for many years to address the threat of bycatch to the Vaquita, and in February over 38,000 people signed our petition for a gillnet ban in the porpoise’s habitat. This month the Mexican government took a major step in protecting this critically endangered species.
Find out how the government is helping >> http://wwf.worldwildlife.org/site/R?i=i9Ccsfa6mHtShsdgXHYB4g
Share:
On Facebook – http://wwf.worldwildlife.org/site/R?i=O7cYS_tXH_tIRYP_37rueQ
On Twitter – http://wwf.worldwildlife.org/site/R?i=NboT5STNa4FLl02F6PkEiQ
More About the Vaquita and Its Habitat: – A rare and elusive porpoise http://wwf.worldwildlife.org/site/R?i=KWnlwOIOE7qrHhwIE4Fx7g
– Working to eliminate bycatch http://wwf.worldwildlife.org/site/R?i=B8fR_5cl2Ytv_yJu6T-ouA
– About the Gulf of California http://wwf.worldwildlife.org/site/R?i=i9dZaa8zog3ZsfIBFTMPHQ“
For my 200th post, I am asking you to email President Obama with this message asking him to make July 6 National Save the Vaquita Day. His “Other Inquiries” email address is support@barackobama.com. Thanks from the Muskwa Club!
________________________________________________________________
June 19, 2013
Dear President Obama:
We have an easy, no-cost way for you to make a critical difference to precious lives. We, the Muskwa Club, would like you to proclaim July 6, 2013 as “National Save the Vaquita Day.” The Muskwa Club was started by kids to promote value-added activities for Middle School and High School age students. We take field trips to places of educational interest, we build engineering projects, we host a speaker series to showcase our members’ passions, and we engage in community service activities. Saving the Vaquita has become our number one service project.
The Vaquita is the smallest, arguably cutest and definitely most endangered marine mammal. These precious porpoises live in the Sea of Cortez and have a range only one quarter the size of metropolitan Los Angeles. Only about 170 Vaquita remain in existence today and approximately 30 die each year due to accidental gill net entanglement. If nothing more is done, they will be functionally extinct by 2017. We can’t let this happen! Solutions have been created such as Vaquita safe nets, and the Mexican government is working on the problem. However, the current economic climate necessitates that we all pitch in and help our neighbors to the south.
Our club is working very hard to raise awareness of the Vaquita. The more people who know about these beloved porpoises, the more likely they will receive what they need to survive extinction. So far we have hosted five Vaquita awareness tables at local events in the Southern California area. We plan to host at least three more during World Ocean’s Day on both the west and east coasts of the US. However, our really big push will be on July 6, 2013 when we will host a tri-coastal event. The Waikiki Aquarium in your home State, and the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro, CA have confirmed. The National Aquarium is very interested in allowing us to host a table there and we have tentative agreements with seven more aquariums across the country. All we need from you is to officially proclaim the day “National Save the Vaquita Day.” That will help promote media attention to our efforts, show that you care about this important international issue, and shine a much needed light on the plight of the Vaquita.
In addition to our awareness table efforts, we are also producing a series of videos about the Vaquita, have our own website, Facebook page, Twitter account, and YouTube Channel, and we speak locally to school science classes about the Vaquita. We’ve established alliances with the American Cetacean Society, Los Serenos de Pt. Vicente, Viva Vaquita, and V-log. At our request, the American Cetacean Society, Los Angeles Chapter has set up a fund to which people can contribute toward the net switch out program. We do not collect money, being minors, but we feel we can be a force for change. Please help us!
Sincerely,
[Your name]
My Custom Ink t-shirt campaign closed on Monday night, and I ended up selling 12 shirts. Unfortunately, that was not enough for any profit, so I will not be able to donate anything to ¡Viva Vaquita! at the moment. However, I will be donating 25% of my book’s profits to ¡Viva Vaquita!, which should be a lot of money. If you are interested in my Vaquita book, please stay tuned and follow my blog.
Here is the WWF press release about the Official Norm that leading Vaquita scientist Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho sent me last night. It includes a great graphic of the Vaquita-safe trawl that will be put into use over the next 3 years. The leading experts and everyone else involved with the Vaquita are extremely excited and relieved by this new regulation, but our work is not done.
Thanks to Carla Porter for buying a shirt! Today, Monday the 17th, is the last day to buy your very own Save the Vaquita t-shirts, with all profits going to the Vaquita! Please buy one for yourself and your loved ones for this very worthy cause!
V-log 