TOTOABA - THE ROAD TO ENSENADA - APRIL 2006
By Katherine Hammontré
This is a continuation of my previous story about my trip with the University of Baja at Ensenada's campus on the SFS José Andrés (Tony Reye's boat) to catch Totoaba for their restocking program. It was a wonderful, exciting and educational experience and the scenery wasn't so bad either!! The Islas de Encantada were beautiful and the water a dark turquoise blue. The way the sun hit the sides of the colorful rock bluffs and against the blue waters was awesome, as were the sunsets.
As I have continually expounded upon, fishing for Totoaba is absolutely forbidden and there are stiff penalties if you are caught. Contrary to what you might read on other web sites, the only people authorized to fish for Totoaba are the Unidad de Biotecnología en Piscicultura, Facultad de Ciencias Marinas, (Biotechnology in Fish Studies Unit at the Marine Science School) UABC's Campus in Ensenada and only for scientific purposes. The UABC staff are as follows: Professor Gerardo Sandoval, Professor Norberto Castro Castro, Lic. Ivan Monay, Lic. Conal David True and Professor Roman Ponce. The crew of the SFS José Andrés: Captain Borego, Fily Espinosa, Jesus Valdéz, Ramon Davis, John Chow, and Carlos. Photographer, Katherine Hammontré. This is a story/photo chronology of the trip to Ensenada to the campus of UABC from San Felipe.
It was an experience, to say the least, driving through Ensenada at night, following a huge truck that kept having problems and had to pull over a few times and sometimes with barely a shoulder to park on. It was worth it, however. Below are Totoabas being raised in captivity.
Because more Totoabas were caught than expected, more than one trip was necessary to transfer the three year olds to tanks in the truck and then to huge tanks at the lab in Ensenada. Also, because of the tides, we had to unload one group of Totoabas and anchor outside of the harbor until the next morning. Conal returned from Ensenada with the truck and tanks for the Totoabas as well as a tank of oxygen the next day. There was also a generator in the back of the truck, which gave us a bad time near the Valley of Trinidad. However, I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Let's get the fish off the boat first. The truck returned mid-morning and I was delighted to be invited to go and view the lab. But first, the newly caught Totoabas had to be transferred from the José Andrés to the tank in the back of the truck. As you can see from the photo, it was a low tide, which made the transfer a bit awkward.
What made it especially difficult was the process of getting the Totoabas out of the tanks via a gurney of sorts, hauling them up to the pier and then into the tank which was in the truck. I stood up above and took photos and it was quite a site. They had to individually transfer each Totoaba, being very careful not to drop them or let them escape. Conal David True is in the black shirt and blue shorts, orchestrating the move.
In the photo below, the pier is quite a distance from the José Andrés, which made the transfer quite a challenge. The entire staff and crew were busy in this process. The Totoabas have already been traumatized from being pulled out of the Sea of Cortez and handled by man; had their stomachs shoved back down and put into tanks, rather than what they've been used to, so they want to avoid any excess trauma or loss of life.
Conal returned with the truck below and the first of the Totoaba will be put in the green gurney and heisted up onto the pier. There, waiting hands will transfer it up onto the truck and into the one of the two tanks.
I took most of these photos from the top deck of the boat, as I had a clear view of the pier and the tanks below. There were a couple of times that I banged my head into the mast pole, running back and forth to follow the process with a photo.
We did have sort of a mishap when one feisty Totoaba jumped out of the gurney, but missed the Sea of Cortez. Fily and Ramon recaptured it, but it was kind of funny to watch. Most gratefully, the fish was okay and they transferred it into the tank.
