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April 7, 2012

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Book

About a month ago I started the rough draft of something I’ve been thinking about for a long time: a Vaquita book. There are no books about the Vaquita in the entire world! I love writing stories in my free time, so I thought it would be a perfect idea to write the world’s first Vaquita book. The book is a non-fiction children’s book, but adults should find it very informative as well. I am getting my information from various internet and book sources (I will obviously give them credit). I will give Vaquita experts my rough draft so they can make sure all of the information is 100% accurate. One of my friends from tennis knows a publisher, so hopefully he will be able to work with it! I will post updates on this topic whenever they are needed.

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April 7, 2012

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Science project

My younger brother and sister decided to do their Elementary School Science Project on the Vaquita! I will definitely be keeping a watchful eye on them (I can’t help myself), but it should be a good learning experience for them, and more importantly, the entire school. When I was in that school in 5th Grade, I told my class about the Vaquita and gave them brochures (see ¡Viva Vaquita! website). We originally hoped to do a fundraiser, but the idea kind of drifted away. I hope this project will help teach the kids (I know I’m a kid, too) about this extremely important issue, and maybe get the fundraiser idea rolling again!

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March 26, 2012

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Subspecies

There are no known subspecies of Vaquita. This is because they have such a limited distribution in one singular location, with no evolutionary separation. At one point, however, the Vaquita and Burmeister’s Porpoise might have been the same species, millions of years ago.

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March 15, 2012

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Poem

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Lifeless

The boat rocked with every rolling current

As I slowly fed my net into the swirling aqua sea.

I watched as the floats drifted off,

Knowing the next time I would touch them,

I would be hauling hundreds of shrimp onto this deck.

I leaned against the cabin window,

Arms crossed.

I thought of my beautiful family:

My wife and son.

This was for them.

A large mob of gulls swarmed around the boat:

There must have been something in the water.

Spitting tobacco overboard, I began to pull in the net.

Inch by inch,

Foot by foot.

It was too late.

She was already gone.

A dead Vaquita lay mangled in the mesh,

Lifeless and dripping in blood from the lacerations.

I sat down on the deck and began to cry.

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March 13, 2012

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Shock

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.