We just returned from 6 days on the Rio Parana in northern Argentina where we stayed at the home of Peto Nogare in Itati (see green placemark on map below). The river is the border between Paraguay and Argentina, home to dense jungles along the banks, massive estancia rice plantations further inland and a drug smuggler’s dream world. The Rio Parana is also home to Argentina’s national fish – the Golden Dorado – and home to several large freshwater fish: pacu, surubi, boga, armando and pirapita.  The purpose of our trip was very simple: document the status of this majestic native fish and the Argentine effort to protect the dorado from overfishing and illegal poaching/smuggling by both Paraguayan and Argentine fishermen.

Our story begins in Corrientes after a 11 hour overnight bus ride from Buenos Aires. Corrientes is a town of 100,000 people and a major fishermen destination for both Argentines and Brazilians to pursue the golden dorado.  Many years ago, large dorado up to 25 kilos were caught but today after decades of overfishing by recreational, commercial and poachers have decimated the population. We visited two fish markets to find out who supplies their fresh fish and if they can purchase dorado for us. When we arrived at Pescaderia Jonathan, we found an empty but upscale fish market with multiple freezers holding many fish but no dorado.

The commercial fisherman who supplies the fish market was it the store and we asked him about his business.  He uses a 200 meter long by 2 meter high gill net that he sweeps the river bottom for fish catching and keep everything he catches. He does catch and keep dorado because there is always a market for it – especially in Paraguay who will buy dorado for 15 pesos/kilogram.  It is illegal to sell dorado in Argentina but not in Paraguay and there are plenty of Brazilian buyers of all fish.

We left Corrientes with our guide Peto Nogare to explore the Rio Parana by boat.   But first a few pictures showing the wealth extraction machine along the river.

Water pumping station for massive rice plantations operated by the family estancias along the river

Our guide Peto and his famed Suzuki jeep

Golden Dorado catch and release poster in the Corrientes bus station. First time I have ever seen an ad like this to promote protecting the species.

Longline fisherman checking his hooks in the Rio Parana.  The green liter bottle holds corn which is used as a bait scent to attract fish to the baited hooks.

Sunset in the town of Yahape on the banks of the Rio Parana.  The boat is a knockoff of the famed Carolina skiff complete with flat bottom, bumpy ride and shallow draft.

The Kimberley region of Western Australia is full of riches.  From the 40,000 year cultural history of the Traditional Owners to the wild and now protected Montgomery Reef to the billions of dollars of iron ore, oil, gas, diamonds and coal in the ground, this remote place is the next frontier in the battle of cultural and environmental wealth versus extracted mineral wealth.  It is hard to image a place the size of California with just 40,000 permanent residents could have such an impact on national politics in Australia.  But when a oil and gas company spends $30B to build a LNG plant, you get the idea.  The wealth here is immense and has the opportunity to make Australia a super energy power on the planet. And onshore oil and gas tenements in the Kimberley, covering an area the size of the UK (24,000,000 hectares), is now under the control of just three mining companies. The three companies – Buru (funded by Mitsubishi); New Standard Energy (funded by Conoco Philips) and Kingsway Oil – control the massive mining tenements in the Canning Basin, South West of Fitzroy Crossing.  This is not about mining in the future. The industry is in full force today and you can see from the revenue numbers from Western Australia below.

I was very lucky to arrange a flight from Fresh Water Cove on Camden Sound back to Derby which is around 250 km North of Broome. The two hour flight in a R44 gave me the opportunity to document the coastal range and sheer vastness of this part of the Kimberley. Our funding support for the MUCRU scientists at Murdoch University and for documentary film work supporting the Save The Kimberley organization will continue into 2013 as we continue to help tell the story of the riches of the Kimberley.

YouTube video describing the Montgomery Reef and its role in the marine ecosystem

A 30 minute boat ride from Freshwater Cove lies Montgomery Reef, a 300 square kilometer offshore reef that will be the center piece of a new Camden Sound Marine Protected Area. On the eastern edge of Montgomery Reef are little specks of land known as the High Cliffy Islands. Only 1 km long and barely 300 m wide, High Cliffy may seem relatively insignificant, but for over 100 years they have been a source of intrigue and mystery. High Cliffy was once home to the Yawijibaya people, who lived here for almost 7,000 years. You can read more from a piece from our friend George Negus.  The place is pretty specki as they say down under.

We were there during the Spring tides that measured 12 meter shift over a 6 hour peroid. So doing the math, 6 hours, 12 meters means 2 meter water rise or fall per hour or 1 meter every 30 mins or about 1″ a minute water rise on an incoming tide.  And you can imagine the speed of the water racing by to find a place to go.  It is more like a river system than ocean except every 6 hours, it changes directions, dries out the beach and you wonder why all the boats are on dry land.

And we were there to talk about the Kimberley and these two citizens’ efforts to fight the oil and gas companies to extract the resources without destroying the ecosystem.  I am still sorting thru all the conversations and information we learned over the 6 days of talk, boat explorations and study of the native lands, their people and culture. I will try in future posts to tell the story.

There is a great article in The Conversation, an Australian media website, that talks about the growing conflict between Aboriginal Clans of Australia and the Green Enviro organizations. The article can be read from here. The article was sent to me by Tim Dykman who runs the Ocean Revolution, a project sponsored as well by the Ocean Foundation.  It is worth a read since it describes a global trend of people choosing economic development over environmental protection.  I guess it is not surprising given the struggles from the 2008 economic crash.   And now in 2012, people are starting to step up on where they stand… and for a first time many are standing up against the traditional Green organizations.

You can also check out this letter to Pew about their support of Arctic Drilling in a deal with Ken Salazar.   You can read the challenge to Rebecca Rimel, President of Pew and see what you think.  There is merit in the letter’s author about mission and keeping “pure” but like the new famous series of novels – Shades of Grey, we are seeing shades of grew in how we all consider environmental protection and the desire to have a stronger economy.

Where do you stand?

And part of the original mission of Marine Ventures and all its projects was to be independent of the environmental NGO community – self funded, no members, no external support required.  Donors by definition have a cause or a belief that helps direct their charitable donations.  We all know how this works and why at times, NGOs are forced to adapt programs to the donor’s interests. It the reality of the this business today more than ever.  I would venture to say that most NGOs receive more “contracts” where they deliver specific results to the funder rather than blind, good will donations.  Donors want results not good deeds. And this is only more difficult now with a larger, better funded group of anti-enviro set of funders.

I was very happy to participate in Ruby’s program and get the word out about our citizen science program in the Kimberley in NW Australia.  We are back in Perth, Broome and the Kimberley next month to continue our work.  Stay tuned for more.

I am happy to see it an it does represent a rational voice without special interest in balancing the ocean uses, needs of humans, protecting the planet and making profits from the ocean. Since we at MVF do not get paid to do this, we do not have a special interest. What’s is your special interest from the oceans? What’s it worth to you?

You can check out the article here in abstract form.  And to read an article on nature without a subscription will set you back $32 for just this article (or $200 for full access for a year).  Guess everybody needs to make a living off the oceans.  See what you think.

http://www.arcticrow.com/2012/08/17/bloggy-2-letting-the-cat-out-of-the-bag/

I was and have remained in favor of the protection of marlin along the East Coast. It was a cultural loss to extirpate a historical industry to protect the recreational fishing groups but in the end, special interest is special interest. If I can convince you my needs are greater than your needs then you go find another job, career or place to live. Such is our world.

Part of our citizen science work is to bring attention to the choices we all can make about our communities, our environment, our fish and our heritage. Every fishermen on the east coast can capture the locations of all the marlin they catch, report them weeks later to protect their secret spots and then show NOAA and the coastal communities how many marlin are still out there. We are developing a new citizen science app for smart phones to collect data about marlin populations along the east coast. We believe the social conversation about fish populations might be more valuable to NOAA than the tedious surveys and often incorrect population models. We are not against science but believe the citizen sentiment merits equal weight to the scientific data used by NOAA and state DNR groups. Part of the disruptive impact of social media and smart phones comes from everybody… I mean everybody now getting to chime in on the issues and using their vote to affect change. It will take time but the days of NOAA committees hammering out catch quotas and taking decades to act based on special interest groups will come to an end. We will do our part at BCS to help citizens get their data into the public recor, their opinions heard and relayed via social media and push agencies to balance the science with community interest and cultural heritage of the commercial and recreational fishing communities. It is the least we can do as a public service.