Filmmaker's Journal: an oceanic roller derby

Preparing for our last day of diving here at Bahia de Los Angeles. Had one terrific night dive surrounded by the local fishermen in their traditional panga boats as they hauled up Humboldt squid. This fishing activity brings the Humboldt squid up closer to the surface and we position ourselves right in the thick of it.

To prevent scaring off the squid, I was filming with red lights which don't seem to bother them. It made for an eerie and adrenaline-pumping experience - like being in an oceanic roller derby bathed in red light, with squid zooming about, sometimes hitting you as they test to see if you're something edible.

Will be back in a day or two and will post a final report with pictures (the WiFi here in Baja is very sketchy and slow, so I have held off posting any images).

Keep watching the CITES conference. It's an important event.

Filmmaker's Journal: conditions improving for viewing Humboldt squid

We're finding windows of opportunity to dive with the Humboldt squid when the wind's not blowing.

An amazing animal but, unfortunately, a very disruptive predator when it's range has been allowed to extend beyond traditional borders due to a loss of natural predators that would normally keep their numbers under control.

We have a slate of experiments we are performing while we're here and we're chipping a way at them one by one. Last night we were surrounded by small to medium squid.

The photo shows me in standard squid diving gear: Neptunic Shark Suit, cable harness for being attached to the boat, and (not shown) an EX3 HD camera in Amphibico housing.

Gotta go - the wind is dying down.

Filmmakers Journal: waiting for the wind to subside to film Humboldt squid

Just a quick update from your local Bahia De Los Angeles internet cafe. The weather here in Baja, California along the Sea of Cortez has been warm and sunny . . . and windy. And that has made filming difficult so far.

I am here to film Humboldt squid with Scott Cassell and dealing with these predators can be very interesting to say the least. We sport Neptunic Shark Suits to provide protection from the squid, along with a cable harness tied to the boat (The little darlings can drag you down if they become really interested in you. And we're diving in water 250- to 1200-feet deep.

The winds make it challenging for both the divers and the local fisherman (a panga - the local fisherman's small boat - can be swamped by wind-swept waves when full of squid as it rides low in the water).

We will be back out on the water later this morning, hoping for calmer seas and plenty of squid. There is an important story behind the ecology of these animals, some of which I have posted in the past. But there's more to come.

Filmmaker's Journal: off to the Sea of Cortez

There's no Friday night partying this week; it's off to bed for an early call tomorrow as I head to the Sea of Cortez for a two-week film assignment. I will be joined by Scott Cassell of Undersea Voyager Project as we travel to Baja, Mexico's Bahia De Los Angeles. Hopefully, I will have internet access so that I can post some news and updates while on location.

In the meantime, be sure to watch the developments coming from the CITES conference which begins tomorrow (3/13) and runs through the 25th. I'm sure there will news updates and press releases on the CITES web site. Stay tuned - there are a lot of important proposals regarding threatened or endangered species.

Hasta la vista!

White Shark in the Marketplace: Mexico drops the ball

Here is a prime example of dropping the ball - or maybe it's a case of turning a blind eye. The above picture was taken at an Ensenada fish market in Baja, Mexico. What you see is juvenile white shark being marketed as marlin or swordfish. Local Mexican fishermen having been illegally catching juvenile white sharks along the Baja coast - disastrous not only because of the loss of the shark but its reproductive potential is also lost for good.

So why "dropping the ball"? Because just a few minutes away from this market are the offices of the governmental agency that oversees the environmental Biosphere program, not to mention other marine-related academic organizations - and not to mention local law enforcement agencies.

Some of the fish markets are now removing the tell-tale shark skin to help further disguise their illegal catch. According to SharkDiver, this has been going on for some time without any government intervention or enforcement. When governments pay lip service by instituting regulations without the required support and enforcement, the sharks lose . . . and we lose.