Bisbee's Black and Blue fishing tournament

In Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, after three days of fishing concluded the thirty-seventh edition of the Bisbee's Black and Blue fishing tournament, considered to be the largest reward competition in the world with just over 3. 2 million, Dollars cash in prizes.  

This year 807 anglers participated, distributed into 120 teams representing the five continents.  

Cilcerio Mercado, Tournament Coordinator: "... this tournament is only about blue and black marlin, and has a minimum weight of 300 pounds, anything less than that weight does not qualify ..."  

For almost 40 years now this tournament is a very special event for all local fishermen.  

Roberto Márquez, Fisherman of Cabo San Lucas: "... since I have use of reason this tournament has been it for me ..., this has been like a party for all that fishermen are"   

The first place winner and his team that took home almost a million dollars with a marlin of more than 596 pounds.  

Frank, Tiana, San Diego, Winner: (translation) "... I would say about 45 minutes, you know, it's hard to say when you're with all the adrenaline and focused on what you're doing ... I love it here, I come every year, the weather is wonderful, the fishing is great and that is what makes it worthwhile here, it’s a great experience, always happy to come to Los Cabos "  

During this tournament, 14 black marlins were captured, as well as 54 blue, 10 striped and one sailfish were reported.  

However, in this circuit the conservation of the species is promoted, under the modality of "catch and release” using video in the reporting process.  

With this tournament, one of the most important worldwide, an estimated an economic benefit of more than twelve million dollars is assured for the tourist destination of Los Cabos.  

Insert Rodrigo Esponda, Dir. Del FITURCA: "we know that sport fishing is a very important travel motivator for the destination, 10% of the tourist flow that comes to the destination expresses the main reason is the practice of sport fishing, and also this makes, generates a much larger tourist economic benefit, 3 times more than the average tourist in the destination"

Revillagigedo, a National Marine Park

Designated as a Biosphere Reserve in 1994, then a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in July 2016, now the Revillagigedo Archipelago in the Mexican Pacific will be National Marine Park.

The current 636 thousand protected hectares, will now grow  go to a much greater protected area, where no fishing at all will be allowed or other activities that are not those of recreational diving or scientific investigation.

Carlos Sánchez, PhD and Researcher at the Baja California Autonomies Universidad (UABCS).

"First the main advantage and in fact I believe it is a success in protection is, twofold : going from  six nautical miles, which is the current core area, to a radius of sixty nautical miles, almost 14.8 million hectares "

A concern remains since surveillance now will have to be extended 23 times more than currently, so it has been proposed to use high-tech drones for this monumental task.

Octavio Aburto, Researcher and Professor at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and National Geographic: "... they are drones that cost a lot but on a budget to monitor such an area, it's minimal .."

The scientific community has also proposed to review the possibility for satellite surveillance:

Octavio Aburto, Researcher and Professor at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and National Geographic: "... currently monitoring of these devices are in the fishing sector, basically in the National Fisheries Commission and there are already proposals requesting that this monitoring, be part of other government agencies such as the Navy itself or even the Coast Guard that is a newly created unit "

The head of the SEMARNAT, Rafael Pacchiano, assured that tourism development will not be allowed on any of the islands.

Located a little more 390 kilometers southwest of Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, - about 22 navigation hours distance, this group of islands composed by San Benedicto and its volcano, Socorro, the largest of the islands and where there is a  Mexican Navy base, the islet of Roca Partida, which is the pinnacle of an underwater mountain, and; the island Clarion, which is the furthest bit of land to the south.

The richness entwined in these islands, in addition to their extraordinary natural beauty, is the great biodiversity which comprises 27 endemic species of coral and fish, as well as up to 12 different species of sharks.

For its part National Geographic presented here in the capital city of La Paz, the Premier of the documentary "Revillagigedo, the wildest Mexico" to a record audience attendance.

Octavio Aburto, Researcher and Professor at Scripps and National Geographic Institute of Oceanography:

"We believe it is very important that Mexicans know it, we have been presenting it in Mexico City, Guadalajara and now in La Paz, we want to take it to Los Cabos, to Manzanillo, all those places where we believe that children, young people, can experience what there is, especially if they cannot go at some point, but continue to inspire all those people ... "

As for the constant comparative references mentioned between Revillagigedo and the Ecuadorian Galapagos Islands, they commented:

Octavio Aburto, Researcher and Professor of the Scripps and National Geographic Institute of Oceanography:

"The Ecuadorian government has for decades thought that promoting tourism in these islands would generate wealth, while at the same time there would be a balance between protecting what there was and the income that it could give; now 30, 40 years later, there is much documentation, that even the government itself is realizing that it was not the best option to have at the time "

Being very fragile ecosystems the frequent presence of humans has deteriorated that site and now it is looking to reduce pressure.

Octavio Aburto, Researcher and Professor at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and National Geographic: "Now you need a visa to be there, you have a limited amount of time, fresh water is scarce, and there are many more limitations. The tourism continues to giving, is for  tourists that arrive by boat, they are there near  the islands and then return, there is no trash, they do not disembark ,so  they do not sleep there "

Carlos Sánchez, PhD and Researcher Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur: "... I believe that if we think that we want to be Galapagos, I think that it is not an example of sustainable development, there is a lot of coastal and social impact towards the islands, only recently the program of Pristine Seas  that oversees all the  Galapagos, only the Islands farthest from the Archipelago like is Darwin Island and Wolf are those that were declared as a reserve, the rest are in medium levels of degraded health ... "

Finally, academics agreed that the most important thing is for the authorities to ensure that, with the category of Marine National Park, any construction of tourism infrastructure be prohibited since  that could affect this fragile ecosystem. And monitoring and surveillance systems be effective.

Tony Perez 

Born in Venezuela but an adopted son of Mexico since 2002, Leonardo González studied Alternative Tourism at the University of Quintana Roo. Shortly after he fell in love with Cabo Pulmo and is currently based in La Paz, Baja California Sur since 2010.

LG: "Well, yes, since I arrived, I came directly to dive, I think it was love at first sight with the Sea of ​​Cortez. I did not have much information I was living in the Mexican Caribbean in the city of Chetumal,  I worked In a site that’s called  Chinchorro Bank, which is a false coral atoll that is 30 km from mainland and very close to the border with Belize, there I worked for the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas, and in an exchange that occurred with the people of Cabo Pulmo, they were a bit like ambassadors for conservation success in Cabo Pulmo, I met members of the Castro family, specifically Richard Castro of Cabo Pulmo Water Sports; they left a video that I saw a long time ago about Cabo Pulmo , of the marine riches that’s in Cabo Pulmo and I definitely said 'in that place I have to be', a month later I was diving in Cabo Pulmo and from there on began a relationship with this place... "...

Speaking of the care that must be taken to achieve a good photograph, he said:

LG: "Well the process of making an image, a good underwater image is a fairly extensive process because first of all you have to learn to dive very well ...  this is the first thing, diving already by itself, being under water, Is it a situation in which you have to be very careful with preserving your life? ... you first have to have very good diving ability, very good control of your buoyancy, an exceptional knowledge of the reefs as well as  knowledge of where you are going to position yourself so you don’t damage anything, you need to have much control of where you are going, of the currents, of fish behavior, of how to arrive to take the best image and above all high ethics so not to modify the surrounding environment, not doing anything to disturb the animals ... annoying them to get a good image "

It is important not to interfere with the animal’s surroundings or annoy them to get your photograph.

LG: "... if the animal poses for me, good, if not, I take a couple of documentation photos of that I saw and I then I go on my way; I do not like to interfere in the natural process. Obviously there are times when the fish lend themselves to the photographers and you can enjoy a bit, but I usually try not to interfere much with the dynamics of the ecosystems. Secondly you need to have exceptional knowledge and a very intimate relationship with your camera, because you are starting to add more factors together that make the dive more complex, that is, it’s not only the preservation of your life as a diver, but also the preservation of the ecosystem, because when photographing you can become so involved that you can lose control, or you’re flapping about or striking  to the bottom, so you have to be very careful; in fact that’s led marine photographer to be a bit demonized, because many people do it without taking into account these important factors "

As for techniques for photographing small organism he emphasized:

LG: "... obviously  in certain places to have to be still to get a good shot, at least with video you need a good amount of light since you use macro lenses, any movement of the hand destabilizes the take due to the size of the animal, then If I'm using a tripod, for those cases, but it's also not for all  shots ... you have to be very careful where you put the stand, where it’s steady, the hole process to get that shot is to be done with  great care. Anyway using a tripod is not something I would recommend to an amateur videographer since you have to have a great deal of knowledge of what you’re doing.

Not only big animals attract him:

LG: "Everything that is tiny in the reefs, in the sand, is the basis of the ecosystem pyramid,  but also make it known also because the Sea of ​​Cortez is not only known for its great animals: whales, sharks, the sea lions, but also by the nudibranchs. They’re invertebrates, very small organisms, very colorful, that are in the reefs and here in the Sea of ​​Cortez we have the privilege to photograph them, to see them, to observe them, and when you start to realize all the life that is there at that scale the possibilities are infinite ..."

In relationship to the "Holy Spirit Is Part Of You" campaign, in which he actively participates with the Network of Citizen Observers, ROC, carrying out photography, videos and interviews, Leo commented:

LG: "... we have started with this conservation campaign of citizen awareness, Espiritu Santo Is Part of You where we intend to make people more aware of the value of the island as an economic and ecological engine for La Paz, for the Bay of La Paz,  the island has Immense value both tangible and intangible, all the wealth that the island houses both on land and in its submarine portion, then it is that; a lot of my job has to do with showing what is at the bottom of the sea, for most of the people the sea is just a big blue mirror where one can’t see what happens below, the dynamics of that happen below the sea ... " " I'm in charge of all the video and photography creation, right now it's not only underwater photography,  we've currently involved in also collecting interviews, collecting information from the main actors that are around the island, with fishermen, with tourist businessmen, and in La Paz we are also carrying out a campaign with restaurateurs, so then we are raising awareness through several restaurants ... in LA Paz there are many chefs who have a lot of ecological awareness, and the majority of these people happen to be divers, so they are very concerned about the environment, and their  opinions, beyond what could be said by a scientific opinion, or a fisherman, or a diver, or someone, who in theory may have a little less to-do with the sea but it is part of our citizen's opinion.  Providing their opinion is also very interesting, so then we are working together on those fronts and well obviously also transmitting a lot of information for the social networks and generating pride for the island.

 "Leo continues his work in preservation and conservation for the Sea of ​​Cortes not only through ROC, but also collaborating with the Sea Watch Foundation created by the legendary Mike McGettigan that aboard in its emblematic ship Ambar III, and  for more than 30 years, it  maintains a permanent fight for Conservation of the reefs and all the biodiversity that exists in the Sea of ​​Cortes and that unfortunately has been depleted and harmed by overfishing and illegal fishing.

Mike McGettigan, founder of Sea Watch, has been diving and fishing the Sea of Cortez and the Revillagigedo Islands for 42 years on their boats. He has logged over 350,000 nautical miles in these waters and made more than 150 trips to the Revillagigedo Islands from 1977 when he had to use a sextant to navigate there.

American Mike McGettigan took observers aboard his 75-foot ship, the Amber III, to see firsthand the destruction caused by illegal fishing. As a result of that three-day cruise, SeaWatch, the McGettigan organization founded in 1993, teamed up with Noroeste Sustenable, based in La Paz, to form a Citizen Observatory. "We do our job at night," says founder McGettigan. "That's when 90 percent of illegal fishing takes place." Today the group operates two pangas, each labeled with huge bold black letters on the sides of the hull. McGettigan also patrols the Sea of Cortez aboard Amber III. McGettigan has also established an informal network of seafarers who transmit information on illegal fishing to the Citizens Observatory. A primary goal of SeaWatch's goal is to try to stop the huge illegal transfer that is stripping the fish population of and around the Bay of La Paz.

McGettigan has the tall, tense construction of a lifelong water man and the public relations expert of a mass communications expert. Working with Armando Figaredo, the on-air representative of Mexico's influential television and radio network, SeaWatch has produced more than 150 television segments of three to five minutes duration that have been broadcast worldwide. McGettigan has partnered with the Mexican Navy and ProNatura, another non-governmental conservation group, to lead a team that is building artificial reefs by identifying, clearing, and sinking surplus vessels that create havens for fish to hide and raise. He writes articles and has been written in Los Angeles Times, Western Outdoor News and other influential media. He has sought partnerships with conservationists, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), sport fishermen, researchers, as well as honest and illegal fishermen throughout the Sea of Cortez. He has accumulated thousands of hours of video and tens of thousands of photographs documenting almost all the activities taking place in his beloved Mar. "Fisheries in the Sea of Cortez can only be recovered if there are clear regulations designed to stop predatory fishing practices" , Says McGettigan. "We need vigilance and impartiality in the enforcement of the law that will win the respect of both the fishing community and the public."