Two fishermen were injured off the coast of Baja California when their small boat crashed into a larger ship used by the Sea Shepherd group to try to prevent the cows from becoming extinct, the environmental organization said.
The attack is the latest in a growing spiral of protests by fishermen using prohibited gillnets in the Gulf of California, the only place in the world where cows live. It is believed that only a few dozen remain, making it the most endangered marine mammal on the planet.
Fishing nets confiscated by Sea Shepherd vessels are expensive, so fishermen often harass the environmental group’s boats in an attempt to recover them, and allege that the Mexican government has not compensated them for the loss of income. who have suffered. Groups representing them were not available for comment.
Sea Shepherd indicated that his ship, the Farley Mowat, was removing illegal gillnets from the waters of the gulf, also known as the Sea of Courtesy, when people in a group of about half a dozen small fishing boats and open they began throwing Molotov cocktails at the ship, causing fires in the bow and elsewhere.
The attackers also threw lead weights at the crew for nets, the group said, which posted a video in which a fishing boat can be seen approaching the Farley Mowat at high speed and crashing. against one side.
Two of the occupants of the can be rescued from the sea by crew members of the Sea Shepherd and Mexican Marines, who usually accompany the crew on these voyages. One was given cardiopulmonary resuscitation because he was not breathing, and the Navy took them both to a hospital.
She confirmed that the injuries occurred in a “collision”, and distributed photographs of the men being taken by helicopter for treatment, but did not provide details about their health.
Two men boarded the Farley Mowat and threatened the crew and the Marines, the group reported.
“This morning’s attack is the latest in a series of increasingly violent attacks on Sea Shepherd vessels over the past month,” the agency said in a statement. “The assailants have thrown Molotov cocktails, knives, hammers, flares, fuel bottles and other lethal projectiles at the ships, their crew and military personnel on board. Prior to today’s incident no serious injuries had occurred.”
Sean Shepherd works closely with Mexican authorities in operations to remove the nets, but fishermen are increasingly daring when it comes to confronting Marines and crew.
The cow population has been drastically decimated by the illegal use of gillnets to catch totoaba, swimming bladders can sell for thousands of dollars in China.