01/25/2023
Good Morning,
With the permanent closure of Guadalupe Island the entire Eastern Pacific breeding population of great white sharks are at stake and this site is now open to illegal fishing at the North Bay. These amazing sharks and their pups populate Hawaii, Washington state, California, Baja and the Sea of Cortez.
The loss of just 30% could lead to trophic collapse as natural predation, illness, and fishing pressure take out the rest of these animals across their home ranges.
There are an estimated 350+ animals at Guadalupe Island many are sub adults - not breeding - so this is a critical conservation issue as Mexico has no current plans to invest in the necessary vessels and staff to do overwatch at this location for the 8 months a year the sharks are here.
The Immediate Solution - Commercial Satellites
In 2022 when the closure happened we went into "solutions mode” - one of the immediate solutions we tested was satellite monitoring. We paid for one full month of high resolution military spec satellites to take images of the island and the surrounding waters. These commercially available satellites orbit the island and Baja daily with resolution up to 10K allowing us to spot vessels and see details like what crew were wearing on deck.
https://www.facebook.com/Guadalupeskywatch/videos/1322188151662043
The system works and will allow us us to spot and report illegal fishing - in real time - at the island going into 2023, when, not if it happens.
https://www.facebook.com/Guadalupeskywatch
We need your help today. Our goal is to get 10,000 people to like, follow and share this page. When we reach that goal we can get funding for satellites from a number of interested NGO’s they just want to see the interest from the public.
The hard fact is Mexico has no funding to protect these sharks.
Negotiations with Mexico to provide conservation on the ground will take a number of years, petitions do not work, we need action now and overwatch on this site from May-Jan each and every year with the ability to immediately report illegal fishing to the Navy Base and gov agencies in real time.
This is the tested solution, this is Guadalupe Island Skywatch.
Please help these great white sharks today!
