Video of the Week: French T.V. Thalassa network wraps up shooting in San Carlos
It was a busy week of running around with the boys from France. One of the highlights of the filming was when I had the chance to sit down and speak with some of the leaders of commercial fisherman in Guaymas. Some refused to speak with me at all on camera but one leader in particular, Manuela Ojeda and I had a great discussion about commercial fishing. She pretty much stuck to the same old rhetoric of how American fisherman are taking tonnes of fish back to the states in coolers and the poor coastal fisherman is dying of starvation. I explained to her the tourism sectors point of view concerning dorado. Which is essentially you can not change the law to liberate dorado until you change the corruption at the department of fisheries in Mexico. Finally during our conversation Manuela said, ¨take this microphone off me I want to speak to you without it¨. When the mic was disconnected and the camera was turned off she turned to me and said, and I quote, ¨you know what, I agree with every single thing you said to me and my office will always be open to you¨ . And with that, like my grandmother would have done, she gave me a kiss on the cheek and our time together was over. It was one of those moments when you finally realized that you had made some ground on the issue albeit small.
This Wednesday our coalition is going to print a letter in the La Reforma in Mexico city denouncing the Department of Conapesca and its leader Ramon Corral. La Reforma is sort of like the New York Times of Mexico City. I don´t know if the letter will be in the online edition but I will certainly post the link if it is. Since my trip to Washington D.C. last December I have remained in Contact with my friends at NOAA, the national oceans and atmospheric administration. About 4 months ago I asked Rebbeca Lent from the office of international affairs at NOAA to please tell me what plans if any NOAA had regarding the issue of 6,000 tonnes of dorado entering the states illegally every year. I mentioned to her that we really did not want to take legal action agianst the Department of Commerce or NOAA for that matter but if no action were taken on their part it would seem to us here in Mexico that we would be left no choice in the matter. In a great effort to be transparent Lent provided me with a letter from Alan Risenhoover, at the department of Commerce. Mr. Risenhoover is the top fish cop at the DOC. Next week I will post the letter and the fall out from our publishing it in La Reforma.
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