Re--
Five Year Anniversary of the Defeat of the Salt Project:
By Serge Dedina, Wildcoast
March 1, 2005
This is my 12th year visiting Laguna San Ignacio, and I am always
surprised and stunned by the beauty of this landscape of scale,
its pristine and undeveloped state, the magnificence of the animals
that thrive here, and the passion of the local people for protecting
their community and their animals.
Upon arriving here on Sunday, (after driving through a wildflower
desert)--we quickly headed out to see the 230 gray whales that
are hanging out in the lagoon. Within five minutes a mother-calf
pair had appoached our boat and was seeking pets, hugs and kisses
from Ken and Spencer, the LA Times team who journeyed here with
me.
After about 20 minutes the whales left, and we headed out nearer
the main ocean entrance. Suddenly we were approached by a giant
female and her playful newborn--but a bit differently. This time
the mom approached on her back, fins in the air, and then proceeded
to swim under the boat, and then finally she wrapped her fins
around the boat, hugging it and swimming the boat around.
That initiated a two hour session with Valentina, the world's
friendliest whale. The only whale known to hug the entire boat
--allowing us to stroke her fins and pet her belly, Valentina
and her newborn stayed so long, that in the end we moved away,
because the calf was so exhausted.
At one point, I stoop up in the boat and surfed the whale--or
felt the sensation as Valentina hugged our panga, lifted it out
of the water on her belly and surfed us around the lagoon as her
newborn looked on...
That experience not only demonstrates the specialness of Laguna
San Ignacio, but more importantly the critical need to protect
this place against the predations by the corporate interests who
would turn this whale sanctuay into an industrial park.
Every resident wants to continue their lives and livelihods organized
around conservation--and this combined effort we have all made
over the past ten years of conservation and promoting community
development is paying off in a huge way.
Since that fateful day ten years ago that Homero Aridjis of the
Grupo de los Cien, announced to the world that ESSA and Mitsubishi
were going to turn the lagoon into a salt one, our team has stayed
on working with local people and for wildlife.
I would like to thank this all-star team--NRDC, Group of 100,
Pronatura, Pro Esteros, Packard, Homeland-Marisla, Punta Abreojos
Coastkeeper, Global Green Grant Fund, IFAW, Greenpeace-Mexico,
Earth Island, Bobby Kennedy, Dick Russell and Wildcoast who worked
to protect the lagoon from ESSA and Mitsubishi, but more importantly,
continued conservation efforts long after Mitsubishi had left.
Five years ago (almost to the exact date), President Zedillo
went whalewatching with our good friends at Kuyima and made the
decision to cancel the ESSA salt project.
Since then we have jointly helped to do the following, 1) provide
loans to fishermen to purchase four--stroke engines for whalewatching,
2) supported the construction of the kindergarten, 3) added another
building to the primary school, 4) built the tele-secondary school
with internet service;
5) build the community center, 6) send local students on educational
exchanges, 7) bring back sea turtles to the lagoon 8) support
the training of local tourism outfitters,9) and built three of
Bajas most effective grassroots NGOs: Laguna Baja ARIC, Abreojos
Coastkeeper, and the Community Organization of Laguna San Ignacio.
Finally--we all continue to spread the word that Laguna San Ignacio
is ours to protect or lose.
All of this work led to our successful effort we will soon celebrate
to permanently protect the lagoon in partnership with the people
who live there in a groundbreakng 120,000-acre conservation easement.
This morning --Daniel Aguilar, a fourth generation fishermen
and second generation whaleman, ran over to me in front of his
parent's house at the fish camp of La Fridera. He had a sea turtle
in his arms.
Early this morning after going to check on fishing net, he noticed
the turtle struggling for help. Rather than stash it away with
plans to cook it as his grandfather would have done (his granddad
Antonio Camacho was one of Baja's biggest turtle hunters), Daniel
carried it back to the beach and released it.
As I write, Daniel is escorting a group of tourists around the
lagoon to see his whales.
So, as we move forward with our effort to help our friends protect
their lagoon, livelihoods, way of life, and families, I thank
all of you for allowing me to join this journey, and helping preserve
one of god's special places.
