ENSENADA TUNA PEN FISHERY DAMAGE REPORT

Jan. 9, 2005, Mark Blucker, Ensenada Bay, Baja California, Mexico:

I recently took pictures of one of the net boats for the bluefin tuna pens that routinely scour the southeast end of Ensenada Bay. This is an area where the sandy beaches give way to the bluffs and rocky bottom of Punta Banda.

This has been prime habitat for bass and other species in the recent past, so productive that I have had to keep my lure out of the water just to get a drink of my beer!

These small bass and halibut, which were all released in the past, are gone. The net boats, sometimes five at a time, scout the area during the day and then come back in the dark to take ALL the sea life along with the sardines and anchovy for their tuna.

I have personally seen them net a dolphin, with the rest of the dolphin pod circling the boat, protesting.

These boats do this every day. My pictures were taken in September, but when I was at Campo La Jolla for New Year's Day, they were still there!

These waters are quite shallow, no more than 25 feet deep, and the killing of slow-growing bass and other non-migratory fishes is unavoidable when using a big net.

The boat in my pictures is in TEN FEET of water It is my understanding that these boats are not supposed to net here, but there is nobody to stop them. I can only hope that bringing the subject to light will focus some attention to the pillaging for profit that is going on here. This also demonstrates how easily a commercial fleet can destroy a fishery in only two years, while public authorities dwell on regulating the catch of two people in an aluminum boat.