{"id":2186250,"date":"2025-03-28T18:00:39","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T17:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2186250"},"modified":"2025-03-22T09:17:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T08:17:49","slug":"9km-of-illegal-nets-seized-as-sea-shepherd-works-to-disrupt-totoaba-poaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/9km-of-illegal-nets-seized-as-sea-shepherd-works-to-disrupt-totoaba-poaching\/","title":{"rendered":"9km of Illegal Nets Seized as Sea Shepherd Works to Disrupt Totoaba Poaching"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Illegal nets are wiping out endangered marine life while fueling cartel operations\u2014this is the fight to stop them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a major victory for marine conservation, the Government of Mexico seized over 9 kilometers of illegal gillnets in the Upper Gulf of California, striking a critical blow against the cartel-driven totoaba trade. This black-market industry not only threatens marine life but also helps fund drug and human trafficking across borders.<\/p>\n<h2>A Major Operation Against Organized Poaching<\/h2>\n<p>The latest operation resulted in the confiscation of:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>9,000 meters of illegal totoaba gillnets<\/li>\n<li>72 dead totoaba, rendered unusable to prevent illegal sale<\/li>\n<li>23.5 kg of swim bladders, a prized commodity in the illicit trade<\/li>\n<li>Seven live totoaba successfully released back into the wild<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The illegal totoaba trade, driven by black-market demand for swim bladders in China, generates millions of dollars for organized crime. These profits fuel broader cartel operations, from narcotics to human trafficking, making illegal fishing not just a threat to marine life but a direct contributor to cross-border criminal networks.<\/p>\n<h2>Sea Shepherd\u2019s Role: A Constant Presence in the Fight<\/h2>\n<p>Sea Shepherd works alongside Mexican enforcement agencies, maintaining a constant presence in the Vaquita Refuge to deter poachers and remove deadly fishing gear. Our ships patrol these waters 24\/7, helping to protect the refuge and enforce conservation laws.<\/p>\n<p>These illegal gillnets don\u2019t just threaten totoaba\u2014they are the primary cause of death for the vaquita, the world\u2019s most endangered marine mammal. With a low number of individuals remaining, every illegal net removed is a chance for survival.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Fighting Illegal Fishing: Sea Shepherd &amp; Mexico Take Action\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fhevH02-lD0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><i>This <a href=\"https:\/\/seashepherd.org\/2025\/03\/18\/9km-of-illegal-nets-seized-as-sea-shepherd-works-to-disrupt-totoaba-poaching\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">article<\/a> was first published by Sea Shepherd on 18 March 2025. Lead Image: SEMAR \/ PROFEPA.<\/i><\/p>\n<h2>What you can do<\/h2>\n<p>Wildlife continues to face threats, which include hunting, poaching, illegal trade in animal products, habitat loss as well as a rapidly changing climate.<\/p>\n<p>Become a Wildlife Champion today by supporting our <a href=\"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wildlife-charities-supported-by-focusing-on-wildlife\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">conservation partners<\/a> with a monthly donation as little as $1.<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" defer=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/install-popup-button.js\" id=\"donorbox-popup-button-installer\"> <\/script><a id=\"preview_inline_popup_button\" class=\"dbox-donation-button\" style=\"background: #0dc5dc; color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; display: flex; gap: 8px; width: fit-content; font-size: 16px; border-radius: 5px; line-height: 24px; padding: 8px 24px;\" href=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/focusing-on-wildlife-needs-your-support?amount=50\" data-reminder-widget-enabled=\"true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" fifu-lazy=\"1\" fifu-data-sizes=\"auto\" fifu-data-srcset=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 75w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 100w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 150w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 240w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 320w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 500w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 640w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 800w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 1024w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 1280w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 1600w\" fifu-data-src=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">Donate<\/a><\/p>\n<hr style=\"border-top: 1px solid white;\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Illegal nets are wiping out endangered marine life while fueling cartel operations\u2014this is the fight to stop them.\u201d In a major victory for marine conservation, the Government of Mexico seized over 9 kilometers of illegal gillnets in the Upper Gulf of California, striking a critical blow against the cartel-driven totoaba trade. This black-market industry not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1178,"featured_media":2204069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/seashepherd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/TotabaConfiscation-3-16-25-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"9km of Illegal Nets Seized as Sea Shepherd Works to Disrupt Totoaba Poaching","footnotes":""},"categories":[6985,5],"tags":[12442,6810],"class_list":["post-2186250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-wildlife","tag-totoaba","tag-vaquita"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2186250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2186250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2186250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2204069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2186250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2186250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2186250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}