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Re: In Memoriam: Wayne Rodgers (May 18-31 issue)   A wonderful friend, on land and sea Sailed many races with Wayne over the 40 plus years we were friends. He was a man of great integrity and a wonderful friend on land and sea. Jack Nigg   Smooth seas and fair winds, old friend The recreational boating...
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  1. I would like to respond to your article about the decline of sport fishing license sales. The reason is simple. All of the good fishing spots at the Channel Islands are closed. The State wants to protect the fish.

  2. Since we know that the taking of the toboaba fish in the Gulf of Mexico is causing the inevitable extinction of the vaquita Porpoise, I thought we should consider how many are being taken yearly. This would give us an understanding of the size of the problem. The number of fish tell us how many boats are out there and more specifically, the number of the 2-kilometer-long nets that are being cast.

    The totoaba bladder is what is commonly referred to as the valued prize. CNN reports that the black-market operation of totoaba bladders is estimated to be a multibillion dollar industry. The recent confiscation of 200 bladders was valued at 3.6 million or $18,000 each. Other reports state the value as $20,000 per kilogram, which we will use as a conservative weight of one bladder. Divide 19,000 (average) into 2 billion and we get $105,000 bladders needed. Now let’s factor in the Mexican cartels. On May 5, 2018 Laura Elena Aguayo from The Voice of the Boarder described the confiscation of 229 bladders filled with 100 kilos of cocaine. The cocaine was valued at 7.5 million. As before we divide bladders to get value (7.4 mil/ 229) or $32,751each. Now we add them together for a drug filled value of $51,750. Dividing that number by the estimated international trade value of 2 billion we get a much lower estimate of 38,647. This conservative number of contraband laded totoaba fish caught yearly to maintain a 2 billion yearly trade requires a lot of fishing. Now that the brackish water along the Colorado River Delta, in which they mature, is high in salinity, the future of the vaquita and the totoaba are bleak.

    Tony Brunn
    Sea of Companions LLC

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