SAN FELIPE, Baja California — A conservation group’s ship was shot at in the Upper Gulf of California on Saturday, the nonprof it Sea Shepherd reported Sunday. Sea Shepherd is a conservation society that aims to protect marine wildlife. On Saturday, Sea Shepherd's vessel called the M/V Sharpie encountered four fishing skiffs, also known as pangas, just after 10 a.m. in the Vaquita Refuge, the group said. The pangas reportedly approached the Sharpie and began to give chase “swerving in front of and around the ship.” Several gunshots were heard during the pursuit which lasted until about 10:13 a.m.
The Sea Shepherd vessel was in the area for "routine monitoring." The nonprofit has worked with Mexican authorities for six years there removing illegal nets that threaten the vaquita - a rare marine mammal which is on the edge of extinction, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Mexican officials from Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente, the federal police, and the Mexican navy were on board the Sharpie at the time of the incident, the Sea Shepherd organization reported. They said the captain of their vessel carried out anti-piracy procedures including the use of water cannons and other anti-boarding techniques.
Surveillance cameras onboard the Sharpie captured footage of the attack. The ship was not hit during the incident and no injuries were reported.
“This just shows how aggressive the poachers are here. It proves to us that they are armed and that we need to take every panga that we come across seriously, because we have no idea what they are capable of,” said Jacqueline Le Duc, Captain of Sea Shepherd vessel the M/V Sharpie.
Sea Shepherd officials said the confrontation took place in a section of the Vaquita Refuge known as the “critical zone” - a priority area for conservationists and the Mexican government.
The Vaquita Refuge is a federally protected area in which gillnet fishing is banned.
According to Sea Shepherd:
“Gillnets are the primary threat to the vaquita, an endemic species whose numbers have plummeted to as few as 6-19 individuals. Poachers set the nets in an effort to catch totoaba, a protected species whose swim bladders sell for a high price on the Chinese black market.”
Sea Shepherd said their ships have been attacked by poachers before. In January 2019, they reported an attack on one of their vessels by a “mob of over 50 skiffs, who hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at the ship, breaking its windows and setting its hull on fire.”