Vaquita Expedition 2013 Campaign

There are a lot of things going on right now in the Vaquita world. Topher Jones of Bisbee, Arizona has created an Indiegogo campaign for a Vaquita Expedition 2013 to get good photographs and video of the Vaquita. I believe this expedition has nothing to do with ¡Viva Vaquita! or their possible 2013 Expedition. Either way, it sounds very neat and worth donating to: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/vaquita-expedition?c=home.

A National Geographic article about un-damming the Colorado River seems very positive at first, but it may lead to an increase of illegal fishing in the Vaquita’s range. Read it here: http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/12/colorado-river-meet-the-sea/.

The Muskwa Club has contacted many nationwide aquariums and has begun to form a successful Vaquita Day 2013. The day is planned to be July 6th, and we are trying to get as many aquariums to celebrate the Vaquita on that day as possible. I might even have a table at Adventure Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey! They have already arranged nationwide media coverage! This will really be a huge event! The Muskwa Club has really helped me achieve my dreams of saving the Vaquita, and they have many more crazy ideas in the works! 🙂

Being a Vaquita conservationist is one busy job!

Social media

After reading the pages and some posts on this blog, you will know a few things: One, I am a kid with an obsession for a porpoise that I might never see. Two, the porpoise is extremely endangered due to entanglement in gillnets. Three, it will be gone within a few years without the removal of the nets from the only place they live, the northern Gulf of California. That’s really the most important stuff.

Next, you might be thinking, “Well, I would like to help this thing, but I don’t have much spare money, and I don’t live near where all of the cool events take place to help and learn about it. Anyway, what could I possibly do to help it when there are scientists who are actually trying?” Then you might click out of the page.

I had the exact same thoughts. Living almost as far away from it in this country as possible, I felt like I was missing out on all of the booths and fundraisers and such. I donated a few hundred bucks over the period of a year, but I knew in the back of my mind that such money is dwarfed by the already millions of dollars spent by the Mexican government. Don’t get me wrong, donations to groups like ¡Viva Vaquita! are vital, but it doesn’t always feel that way. You want to know the best way to help the Vaquita from your chair that is nowhere near Mexico, right?

The answer is social media. That’s right, Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Digg, Google Plus+, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, MySpace, DeviantArt, Tumblr, WordPress, and many more. Post something about the Vaquita. Tell your friends and have them do the same. What’s better: one person donating $100, or 200 people each donating $15? Not only does the second one equal 30 times more money for the Vaquita, but 200 people, rather than one, learn about it, and it’s likely they will pass it on too.

So the next time you want to post a status update on Facebook, write about the little Mexican porpoise. As a matter of fact, do it right now. Go ahead, Facebook is waiting.

Informational video

If you live in the area, join ¡Viva Vaquita! at Hula’s Island Grill and Tiki Room in Monterey, California every Monday night in April for their Mahalo Monday fundraiser! 10% of sales will go to ¡Viva Vaquita! It is open for dinner starting at 4 pm. Hope you can come!

Also, William Whittenbury from the Muskwa Club has asked me to write the script for their informational movie that will be on their YouTube channel, possibly a local news station, and maybe even on a loop in the Cabrillo Aquarium and at a Vaquita Fundraising event at the Hawaiian Waikiki Aquarium, which is still an idea in progress that the aquarium has shown much interest in. Many more ideas are also in the works, and I will update them as soon as they become official.

Tribute

I want to give a huge tribute to the amazing Mexican artist Memuco. His beautiful work has raised much awareness and money for the Vaquita over the last few years. His art is absolutely amazing. Please look him up or search him on this blog to see some of the things he has done. He has also been very kind to me, even volunteering to illustrate part of my chapter book!

I would also like to thank the awesome people at ¡Viva Vaquita!, Cetos, Save the Whales!, CEDO, the American Cetacean Society Monterey Bay Chapter, WWF, earthOCEAN, NOAA, and many more that I forgot the names of for working so hard to protect this amazing creature and for answering all of my questions.

I would finally like to thank Dr. Tom Jefferson for replying to every email I have sent him since I was ten. I remember when I used to send him about 5 emails a day. I have no idea how he stayed so patient with me. 🙂 He has always been my #1 resource on Vaquita info.

All of these people and organizations have played a huge part in inspiring me to do this blog and all of the other stuff that I’ve done over the last 3 years. I feel like I know all of these people so personally, yet I have never met any one of them. One day I hope to meet you awesome humans.

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!