In a powerful show of force against illegal fishing gear, Sea Shepherd and our partners have rescued 20 California sea lions from deadly entanglement in the Upper Gulf of California\u2014an area plagued by abandoned fishing nets and black-market totoaba poaching.<\/p>\n
Three of the animals were freed at Isla Consag during an intensive five-day rescue operation aboard Sea Shepherd\u2019s Bob Barker, conducted in coordination with PROFEPA, CONANP, Cabet Cultura y Ambiente, Pesca ABC, and local residents of San Felipe.<\/p>\n
The victims\u2014two juveniles and a pup\u2014all had plastic fishing net wrapped tightly around their necks. Using a combination of inhaled anesthesia and physical restraint, our team successfully cut them free, tagged them for monitoring, and released them back into the wild.<\/p>\n
Another 17 sea lions were rescued at Isla San Jorge, Sonora just days earlier, including both males and females. These back-to-back operations are part of an ongoing campaign to combat the rising threat of ghost nets\u2014discarded or lost fishing gear that continues killing long after it\u2019s been abandoned.<\/p>\n
As part of the effort, Sea Shepherd also participated in training local teams\u2014especially women from San Felipe\u2014to use a new tool known as the \u201cGancho Diana\u201d, which allows for fast, safe disentanglement.<\/p>\n
These community members now lead photographic surveys of the sea lion colonies, identify types of fishing gear, and track entanglement rates to inform enforcement and prevention efforts.<\/p>\n
The data collected during these missions is damning: ghost nets are everywhere, and California sea lions\u2014though not endangered\u2014are among the species paying the price.<\/p>\n
The nets being removed are the same illegal gear used to catch totoaba, a fish trafficked on the black market for its bladder, and the same gear that has nearly wiped out the critically endangered vaquita.<\/p>\n
Sea Shepherd operates the only two permanent large ships in the Vaquita Porpoise Refuge\u2014Bob Barker and Seahorse\u2014patrolling side by side through waters infested with illegal gillnets.<\/p>\n
These nets are set for totoaba, a trafficked fish whose black-market trade has pushed the vaquita to the edge of extinction and continues to kill indiscriminately.<\/p>\n
Both ships serve as powerful mobile platforms\u2014equipped with thermal drones, sonar, and rapid-response teams\u2014designed to locate, document, and recover these deadly nets before they claim more lives.<\/p>\n