Blocks for Porpoises
Posted: July 6, 2022
Wait, are those people dropping concrete blocks into the sea on porpoise?
They are. The Mexican navy has begun a controversial plan. The navy is plunking concrete blocks into the Gulf of California to snag illegal nets. These nets drown critically endangered vaquita marina porpoises.
What is a porpoise, exactly? At first sight, you might confuse these sea critters with dolphins. But the porpoise is actually a type of whale. It has a triangular dorsal fin and a rounded snout.
The vaquita is the smallest type of porpoise. And it’s almost gone. As few as eight of the tiny porpoises remain in the Gulf of California, the only place they live.
Vaquitas become trapped in gill nets fishermen illegally set for totoaba. (Totoaba fish have swim bladders people in China love to eat. The dried bladders sell for thousands of dollars per pound!)
The new plan: Sink 193 concrete blocks. Hopefully, the blocks will snag the nets before the nets can snag the porpoises.
Good idea? Some say no. Critics say metal hooks attached to the blocks may snag parts of nets that keep entangling sea life. Abandoned nets are also called “ghost nets.” They can continue killing marine life for years.
On the other hand, the plan may cause illegal fishermen to think twice before casting nets that would just get stuck.
On the other, other hand . . . illegal fishermen might just use GPS to fish around the blocks.
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. — Romans 13:1