By José Antonio Pérez – photo: CEDO archives disentanglement efforts
A recent training workshop to detect sea lions tangled in nets found 45 entangled sea lions, or rather 2.5% of the sea lion population at Bird Island, reported Nelida Barajas Acosta, Director for the Intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans (CEDO).
Nelida Barajas indicated, due to protocols that have to be complied with, fishing nets were successfully removed from only five sea lions, though progress was made on training individuals to follow up on cases found at Bird Island (Isla San Jorge).
She detailed 35 people belonging to three federal agencies, four civil-society organizations, along with a tourism provider and the community of Rodolfo Campodónico ejido took part in the workshop.
Barajas deemed the detected entanglement incidents as low, since only 2.5% of 2,000 sea lions presented problems. However, the most important thing lies in seeking how to conserve sea lions with help from fishermen, without undermining the importance of fishing.
Representatives from Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Baja California, and Sonora took part in strengthening efforts to protect the California sea lion (zalophus californianus) 2nd largest colony of which is located precisely at Bird Island. More info at: Saving the Sea Lions of San Jorge