There are 17 nets recovered in the Vaquita Zero Tolerance Zone

Despite the fact that on repeated occasions the Secretary of the Navy (Semar), declared as "non-existence of information", the number of networks recovered in the Zero Tolerance Zone (ZTC), of the vaquita porpoise, finally had to release the data and announce that between April and July 2023 found 14 fishing nets stuck in the concrete blocks with steel hooks that he placed in the 225 square kilometer polygon, to try to inhibit poaching.

According to the Semar Report "By Line of Action", lThe networks that measured a total of 6.07 kilometerswere abandoned within the Zero Tolerance Zone or possibly thrown outside the restricted area and carried away by the current.

In an in-depth review of the document "Annex Meta 2.5 H2", delivered by the Navy, through the Naval Sector of San Felipe, Baja California, it was found that there were not 14 but 17 networks recovered within the ZTC, 12 pieces of equipment fishing in April and five in May, with a total length of 7.9 kilometers, 1,200 meters more than what was reported in the compendium.

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From the detailed report it can also be established that, in 2022, Semar found four totoabera networks, one kilometer each, within the Zero Tolerance Zone and two more than 2.5 kilometers in total, in the polygon of the Vaquita Refuge Zone.

The documents of the Secretary of the Navy held by Excelsior They were not delivered to citizens who requested the information again and again through the National Transparency Platform, but as part of the Annexes to the First Results Report of the Compliance Action Plan for the protection of the vaquita porpoise and the combat to the illegal trafficking of Totoaba fish, sent on August 8 to CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).

This report from the Mexican government will be analyzed by the 193 member countries (Parties), of CITES at the meeting of the Standing Committee to be held from November 6 to 10 in Geneva, Switzerland, where new trade sanctions against our country could arise.

It should be noted that, in the First Results Report of the Compliance Action Planthe Government of Mexico does not report on the wildlife found alive or dead in the nets stuck in the concrete blocks with steel hooks of the ZTC, despite making a written commitment to the international community to include photos and videos of the animals found in the fishing equipment.

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In the most recent request for access to information presented by this newspaper to know the number of nets found in the Zero Tolerance Zone, the Secretary of the Navy went from the "non-existence of information" to the criterion of "incompetence"to avoid handing over the data, which it had already presented to CITES days before.

In the letter dated August 17, 2013, the head of the Semar Transparency Unit suggested directing the request to the Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), which on September 13 declared "non-existence of the information ", while asking to ask the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa)who two days before, on September 11, had responded the same: "nonexistence of information."

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