Click Here to Watch Souls of the Vermilion Sea on Amazon Prime! Wild Lens was born out of a strong desire to halt species declines and prevent wildlife extinctions. Our first film focused on the endangered California condor, a species that very narrowly escaped extinction in the 1980s. While working on that film, I interviewed many of the biologists who …
What Impact has our Ongoing Vaquita Campaign had on the Species?
Click Here to Watch Souls of the Vermilion Sea on Amazon Prime! When fellow filmmaker Sean Bogle and I chose to take this project on and make a documentary (or several) about the vaquita, we had one clear goal – to have an impact on the outcome of the issue. We wanted to help prevent the extinction of the vaquita. …
Vaquita Chronicles: What is Being Done to Save the Vaquita?
For the past six weeks here on our blog we’ve been exploring a variety of ongoing efforts undertaken to prevent the extinction of the vaquita. Here we present all of this same information in podcast form, as an episode of our new audio series, The Vaquita Chronicles.
Collaboration is Key to Conservation
Something that we have noticed here at Wild Lens on many of the conservation projects that we’ve been involved with is a lack of cohesiveness and collaboration amongst different groups working on the same issue. While there have certainly been some really fantastic and beneficial collaborative efforts implemented to help address the vaquita issue, there have also been some troubling …
Taking the Vaquita’s Story to Sundance
Just yesterday Sundance announced the selection of 112 feature length films to screen at the 2019 festival. One of those films is Sea of Shadows, produced in association with the Wild Lens Collective and co-directed by Wild Lens filmmaker Sean Bogle, and myself. Needless to say, we are ecstatic about this exciting development and the opportunity that it offers to …
The Vaquita Capture Effort
The vaquita capture effort was the most high profile attempt to prevent the vaquita’s extinction. Over 60 marine mammal experts were involved in the approximately two month long program designed to bring the vaquita into a captive environment. The stated goal of this program was the capture as many vaquita as possible – up to 15 animals, which was the …
Fighting Back Against Organized Crime
Two organizations, Elephant Action League (EAL) and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), have conducted comprehensive undercover investigations into the illegal trade in totoaba swim bladders. These investigations provide crucial information to law enforcement agencies, theoretically allowing these agencies to take action to shut down these illegal supply chains. Remember – it is this illegal supply chain for totoaba swim …
The Economic Issue at the Heart of the Vaquita Crisis
At its heart, the vaquita issue is an economic issue. Most fisherman continue to use gillnets because they feel like they have no other means to earn a living. The importance of providing alternative livelihoods has been recognized for a long time – in 2008 the Mexican government offered buyouts to local fisherman, and also began testing alternative vaquita-friendly fishing …
The Ghost Net Removal Program
The remote acoustic monitoring program discussed in our previous post is not the only way that local fisherman are getting involved in vaquita conservation. The ghost net removal program also relies on participation from within the community, and this program is also having a significant impact on the vaquita issue. The program is designed to remove gillnets from the …
Scientific Research and Monitoring of the Critically Endangered Vaquita
Although the situation faced by the vaquita is quite dire, there are lots of organizations and individuals that are committed to doing all they can to prevent the vaquita’s extinction. In this article, we will summarize the scientific research and monitoring work that has been conducted on the vaquita population. Scientific Research and the Remote Acoustic Monitoring Program Without scientific …
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