There IS Something You Can Do

Write Letters. See the list below for agencies you can contact to express your concern and to request stronger enforcement against poachers. This may sound like a drop in the bucket, but consider a story relayed to us by reader Constantinos Petronos (Athens Greece) regarding recent e-mail campaigns requesting that airlines remove shark fin soup from their inflight menus. Following a barrage of e-mail complaints, Singapore Air stopped serving shark fin soup in February, 1999, and Thai Air agreed to remove it from its menu as of June 10, 2000.

Write Checks or donate time to environmental organizations working on poaching and other problems.

Go See for Yourself. Photographer and Galapagos guide Marc Bernardi postulates that the more tourist boats there are visiting an area, the less chance of poachers sneaking in to take fish. Also, increased income from tourism may help local governments beef up enforcement and might also provide career alternatives for local poachers. There’s still plenty of great diving in these areas, but try to patronize dive boats that allow no line or spear fishing in protected areas, because poachers use any exception to the rules as an excuse for wholesale slaughter.

You can write to the following organizations to show concern and offer your support:

Mexican Government Agencies:

PESCA: Dr. Jeronimo Ramos Saenz Pard, Dirección General de Administración de Pescarias, Lateral del Anillo Periférico No. 4209, Jardines de la Montaña, Delegación Tlalpan C.P. 14210, México, D.F.; phone: 011-52-5-628-0600; fax: 011-52-5-628-0763; e-mail: jramos@buzon.semarnap.gov.mx

Lic. Carlos Camacho Gaos Subsecretario de Fomento y Desarrollo Pesquero (same mailing address as above); phone: 011-52-5-628-0610 to 14; fax: 011-52-5-628-0656

SEMARNAP: M.C. Julia Carabias Lillo, Sec. de SEMARNAP (same mailing address as above); phone: 011-52-5-628-0606 & 07; fax: 011-52-5-628-0643 & 44; email: jcarabias@buzon.semarnap.gov.mx

Galápagos Organizations:

Galápagos Environmental Organizations:, Charles Darwin Research Station, Puerto Ayora, Isla Santa Cruz, Galápagos; website: www.darwinfoundation.org/ NewFiles/station/index.html; e-mail: cdrs@fcdarwin.org.ec

The Galápagos Conservation Trust ; website: www.gct.org; e-mail: gct@gct.org

Galápagos National Park Service, Isla Santa Cruz, Galápagos - Ecuador; e-mail: png@ga.pro.ec; website: www4.parquegalapagos.org.ec