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!
Tag Archives: Vaquita
Pip
A fisherman’s name was Pip.
He owned a beautiful ship.
He wasn’t illegal,
He caught nary a seagull.
Until today. Oh Pip.
Ellen
Thanks to Ellen DeGeneres for talking about the critical issue of fishing net entanglement on her show. You can watch her interview with Captain Dave Anderson here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DlIPKvYJ04&sns=em. If you find an entangled or injured ocean animal, call your nearby agency: http://www.savethewhales.org/strandingsD-2.html.
Beak and melon
The Vaquita has neither an obvious beak nor melon.
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.
The Little Cow That Could
I know it is a little late, but I would like to show you a post that a cool guy named Brett Fish wrote about me in December called “The Little Cow That Could.” His article is extremely important to me. He is a very inspiring writer, and I insist you check out the rest of his blog as well.
E-newsletter
Check out this Save The Whales E-newsletter, “A concert to benefit the Vaquita porpoise and ¡Viva Vaquita! donation to CEDO for Vaquita conservation project!”
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.
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.
Poster
Check out this awesome poster by wonderful artist Memuco:
http://memuco.wordpress.com/2012/03/08/vaquita-critically-endangered/
V-log 