Operation Milagro

2018, a Bit of a Review

2018 was an an interesting year in terms of wildlife adventures. Early on there was time on Operation Milagro, working with Sea Shepherd in their efforts to save the vaquita from extinction. Later in the year I was again onboard a Sea Shepherd ship on Operation Treasured Islands, a campaign in support of Mexican biologists studying everything from plankton and plastics to pacific mantas and Hammerhead sharks. As with previous stints with the organization, one of my main tasks was drone operator, as well as deck crew.

Most of the year I was home in Tucson keeping my eyes open for interesting wildlife and maintaining my own set of 10 camera traps. I also continued my informal, long-term (4+ years now) wildlife monitoring project at the The Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch of the National Audubon Society. This project also uses approximately 10 camera traps set up in strategic locations, such as water sources and wildlife trails in order to document what species may be present or just passing through the area.

In both cases, my cameras have captured fun videos and images of desert tortoises to Mountain lions.

Here’s to hoping 2019 brings more wildlife beauty and conservation moments and opportunities. Happy New Year!

Life, Death and the vaquita

Baja California Sunset. Copyright: Greg Joder.

Since my last blog I have come to Mexico to join Sea Shepherd’s Operation Milagr0, the on-going campaign to remove illegal gill nets set to capture the endangered totoaba. The swim bladders of the totoaba are said to be medicinal and sold in China for many thousands of dollars per kilogram. These same nets catch and drown the vaquita, a critically endangered harbor porpoise endemic to the northern Gulf of California with an estimated population of less than 20. Sea Shepherd is working in cooperation with the Mexican government to stop the poachers and give the vaquita and totoaba a fighting chance.

Update, catching up, wildlife etc. …

It’s been too long since my last post. So much has happened and also life has been pretty quiet too.

Following up with the beaked whale project with Sea Shepherd, I flew over 50 drone flights in order to assist the biologists in identifying and documenting Cuvier’s Beaked Whales at Isla Guadalupe. Here is the project video:

Here is a video of some of the wildlife and a shark diving boat at Isla Guadalupe:

Here is a video of flying through fog at Isla Guadalupe:

Next week I’ll be leaving to fly drones for Sea Shepherd on Operation Milagro, in our continuing efforts to save the endangered Vaquita from extinction.

Summer

It’s been a long few months since finishing my tour on Sea Sheperd’s Operation Milagro. I worked on-board as a deckhand hauling in illegal nets, briefly as quartermaster on the bridge and primarily as one of a few drone operators. Here’s is Operation Milagro’s season end recap video:

During this time my dad passed away and I spent a few week back in Tucson with family. I officially left the Sea Shepherd campaign after my three month commitment ended at the end of April. At that point I needed a break to re-energize and reflect on the loss of my dad.

Since that time, I’ve been back in Tucson working on my house and volunteering again at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. I’ve also been catching up with my wildlife camera-trap projects at home, the Catalina Mountains and at the Audubon’s Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch. I’ll be posting regularly now that things have settled down.

Here’s the best so far from a camera in my yard:

Here’s another mountain lion from one of my Catalina Mountain cameras:

A bear showed up at the Audubon research ranch:

Sea Shepherd and the Vaquita

During the first week of January I joined the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s (SSCS) Operation Milagro in the Sea of Cortez. Operation Milagro targets poachers who illegally set gill nets to catch totoaba, an endangered sea bass. In doing so a highly endangered porpoise, the vaquita, is often caught and drowned in the gill nets. The most recent population estimates for the vaquita place the number well below 100 individuals. The number of totoaba remaining is unknown. Our mission is to find the gill nets, pull them from the sea, destroy them and then hand them over to Mexican authorities.

Dead Totoaba pulled from an illegal net. Copyright: Greg Joder/Sea Shepherd.

Why do the local fishermen target the totoaba? Its swim bladder has purported medicinal and virility enhancement value and is sold for great profit in China.

While I can’t post the best video I’ve taken since Sea Shepherd will be using it in future videos of their own, here is a short video of interesting outtakes:

I am working on the SSCS ship named the Farley Mowat, named after the author who wrote Never Cry Wolf among other works. My primary role on the Farley is “drone pilot” and I am responsible for catching all the action from an aerial perspective not otherwise possible from the ship or a small rigid inflatable boat (RIB). My second role is that of deck crew. In this position I assist the other crew in taking aboard the illegal nets once we find them. This is difficult, back-breaking work as the nets are hundreds of meters long and are set in the shallow, current-filled northern Sea of Cortez waters by anchors that weigh nearly 150 lbs.

The anchors and bagged nets recovered in the span of two nights in the vaquita refuge. Copyright Greg Joder/Sea Shepherd.

During my first few weeks aboard the ship we have found and destroyed over twenty illegal nets and the totoaba season is just beginning. We find the submerged nets by towing a “ray” behind the ship. The ray trails a grappling hook and is designed to skim along below the waters surface and snag the net. Once a net is snagged, a line purposely snaps and the ray and a set of marker buoys is let go into the sea. In this way we can turn the ship around and relocate the buoys, and thus the net.

The Farley Mowat crew investigates a dead whale, looking for signs of entanglement. Copyright: Greg Joder/Sea Shepherd.