fbpixel poaching Archives - Mission Blue

Blog Archives
The Night Watch

In Playa Grande, Costa Rica, more than 20 years of egg poaching consumed a generation of leatherback sea turtles, bringing the population in the Eastern Pacific to the brink of extinction. Today, Earthwatch scientists and volunteers are working alongside local communities to ensure there’s a future for this species.
By: Alix Morris, Earthwatch Institute

When María Teresa Koberg first arrived in Playa Grande, Costa Rica in the late 1980s to study nesting sea turtles, Doña Esperanza Rodriguez was concerned. At the time, Playa Grande was the most important nesting site worldwide for leatherback sea turtles, but it was also a dangerous place, particularly for a researcher. People were arriving on the beaches from all over the country to harvest eggs from the turtles’ nests, and Esperanza and her family were involved in managing these efforts.…

Posted in .Homepage, Featured, mission blue, Partner Stories |

Leave a comment
Innovative Technology Fights Wildlife Crime

The illegal wildlife trade is a $20B black market based on corruption—a global crisis that pops up in news headlines with heartbreaking stories of endangered species being poached and confiscated at customs. These activities are driving species of elephants, rhinos, tigers, pangolins, turtles, parrots and others towards extinction. Rhino poaching has increased by 9,000% since 2007; 100,000 elephants were killed in just three years; and the tiger population has decreased by 40 percent in the last decade. Our partners at the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge (WCTC), a partnership with National Geographic, Smithsonian, and TRAFFIC, is finding solutions to this global crisis through innovative science and technology.
Corruption is the key enabler of wildlife trafficking, creating illegal supply chains and fueling criminal networks that devastate vulnerable species and harm livelihoods.…

Posted in .Homepage, Featured, Partner Stories |

2 Comments
A Story of Poachers, Corruption, Compassion, Community and Conservation

By Joseph Ierna Jr. / Ocean CREST Alliance
Today a global struggle effecting the health of our communities, our economy, and the very life-sustaining health of our oceans is the ugly reality of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities or, as called in the Bahamas, poaching. Since our encounter with hundreds of poachers on Cay Sal Island Bahamas on July 2nd, crawfish season opened August 1st and the legal Bahamian fishermen are just returning from their first month of trips. The numbers of poachers they are seeing are astounding, while the numbers of crawfish they are catching are the worst in a decade. Our oceans are dying. 
“If tings don’t change soon Joe, I’ll be changing my occupation,” says Scott Harding, a 35-year veteran craw fisherman based on Long Island, Bahamas.…

Posted in Partner Stories |

7 Comments
Encounter at Cay Sal Reveals Poachers in the Bahamas

By Joseph Ierna Jr. / Ocean CREST Alliance
The Bahamas Reefs Hope Spot with its 700 islands and cays represents one of the most vast shallow water ecosystems in the world. The expansive and productive fishing grounds known as The Great Bahama Bank and The Little Bahama Bank comprise 180,000 square miles. This rich biodiversity directly supports the country’s third largest economy, fisheries that bring in about $100 million annually. What’s happening in these waters is out of control and a danger to those who wish to enjoy the area through diving,  legal fishing and tourism. Bahamian waters are being pillaged daily by Illegal Unauthorized and Unregulated (IUU) fishing activities.
Globally, IUU’s are stealing billions of dollars in revenue from local communities and from the ocean itself.…

Posted in Uncategorized |

6 Comments
China Sends Strong Message – Crushes Ivory Stockpiles

In a surprising step this week, China joined the increasing ranks of countries to publicly destroy stockpiles of ivory to make their stand against the illegal global trade – an industry that claims the lives of tens of thousands of endangered African elephants yearly.
Just a few months ago, U.S. authorities in Denver crushed 6 tons of ivory seized at airports, demonstrating their resolve to stamp out the $10 billion illegal trade that has clear links to international crime, including human trafficking and terrorism.
“Illegal trade in wildlife, whether ivory, rhinoceros horns, tiger parts, shark fins or other fish, provides slick corridors for drugs, arms, and human trafficking.  Putting the spotlight on this issue is important,” says Dr. Sylvia Earle.
Positive actions such as this weeks ‘Ivory Crush’ are a good step, and we’re hopeful that soon the necessary policy changes will be put into place to make a real difference.…

Posted in mission blue, Uncategorized |

Leave a comment