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A6 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 7 July 2022
Mexican navy sets net hooks in bid to help vaquita porpoise

By MARK STEVENSON But he added that it would
Associated Press crucial for the navy to regu-
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The larly clear out any snagged
Mexican navy said Tuesday nets, “or other species
it has begun a controver- could be killed down
sial plan to drop concrete there.”
blocks onto the bottom In a statement announcing
of the Gulf of California to the plan, the navy made
snag illegal nets that drown a vague mention of “re-
critically endangered va- covering detained nets.” In
quita marina porpoises. practice, it would probably
As few as eight of the tiny, require divers to descend
elusive porpoises remain in and manually cut nets off
the Gulf, also known as the each of the 193 blocks ev-
Sea of Cortez. It is the only ery few days.
place they live, and they Given the defiance of the
cannot be captured and fishermen and the lucrative
bred in captivity. nature of the illegal trade
Vaquitas become trapped in dried totoaba bladders,
and drown in gill nets fisher- This undated file photo provided by The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows there is also no guarantee
men set illegally for totoaba, a vaquita porpoise. that fishermen might not
a fish whose swim bladder Associated Press mark either physically or
is a delicacy in China and concerns that the metal there had been no public of yards (meters) long, with GPS the location of
sells for thousands of dol- hooks attached to the comment, but said that so we don’t know if a net the blocks and fish around
lars per pound (kilogram). blocks may accumulate was because nobody had snagged down there might them. Last year, the Mexi-
The Mexican government remnants of nets that could requested one. be a double-edged sword, can government aban-
has largely abandoned ef- continue to entangle and Doubts about the plan and trap vaquitas,” said doned the policy of keep-
forts to keep small fishing drown sea life. abound. It would scatter Olivera. ing fishing boats out of the
boats out of a 110-square- “This is a total surprise, be- one block, with a metal Abandoned nets, known as “zero tolerance” zone in
mile (288-square kilometer) cause the environmental hook attacked, every one “ghost nets,” can continue the upper Gulf.
“zero tolerance” area near impact statement was ap- kilometer over the zero killing marine life for years. It then introduced a slid-
San Felipe, Baja California, proved in record time, in tolerance area. It is not Another expert, who did ing scale of punishments if
where the few remaining six weeks. It wasn’t opened clear how, or whether, any not want to be cited by more than 60 fishing boats
vaquita have been seen. to public comment,” said snagged nets would be re- name out of concern over are seen in the area on
Environmentalists said Alex Olivera, the Mexico covered from underwater. reprisals, said the plan multiple occasions. Olivera
Tuesday the plan to sink representative for the Cen- “A net can be snagged on might discourage the ille- expressed doubts. “They
193 concrete blocks was ter for Biological Diversity. these hooks, and we don’t gal fishermen by causing can’t be checking these
approved with no public Mexico’s Environment De- know, we’re talking about them to lose nets to the blocks every day,” he
comment and expressed partment acknowledged nets that are hundreds snags. said.q

Saudi Arabia expecting 1 million in largest hajj since virus

By AMR NABIL Mecca on Wednesday for allow some 850,000 Muslims the holy site on Wednesday grimages brought in $12 bil-
Associated Press the largest hajj since the from abroad to make the and stressed their “readi- lion before the pandemic
MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) coronavirus pandemic se- annual pilgrimage, which ness” to receive pilgrims accounting for the largest
— One million Muslim pil- verely curtailed access to begins on Thursday, marks with the goal of “maintain- percentage of Saudi Ara-
grims were converging on one of Islam’s five pillars. a major step toward nor- ing public health.” After the bia’s gross domestic prod-
Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Saudi Arabia’s decision to malcy after two years of coronavirus struck in 2020, uct after oil. Although virus
a drastically scaled-down Saudi authorities allowed cases have risen steadily
hajj restricted to Saudi resi- just 1,000 pilgrims already to over 500 a day in Saudi
dents. residing in the kingdom to Arabia, the government
The 1 million foreign and attend, prompting histori- lifted the country’s indoor
domestic pilgrims partici- ans to compare the disrup- mask mandate and oth-
pating is still far less than tion to the site’s storming er virus precautions last
the 2.5 million Muslims who by religious extremists and month. Roughly 70% of the
traveled in 2019 for the pil- dramatic closure in 1979. country has been vacci-
grimage, typically one of Last year, the hajj was simi- nated against the virus.
the world’s largest gather- larly restricted to 60,000 Pilgrims at the holy site
ings. Those performing the fully vaccinated Muslims this year are not required
ritual this year must be un- living in Saudi Arabia. The to be masked or socially
der 65, vaccinated against unprecedented curbs sent distanced, as during the
the coronavirus and have shock waves throughout past two years. However,
tested negative for COV- the Muslim world, devas- Muslims are still prohibited
ID-19 within 72 hours of trav- tating many believers who from kissing or touching
el. The pilgrims are chosen had spent years saving up the cube-shaped Kaaba,
An African Muslim pilgrim carries her luggages as she
circumambulates around the Kaaba, the cubic building at from millions of applicants for the religious rite. the metaphorical house of
the Grand Mosque, in the Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca, through an online lottery This year, however, Saudi God at the center of Mec-
Tuesday, July 5, 2022. system. authorities are keen to re- ca that pilgrims circle as
Associated Press Saudi officials inspected lax virus curbs. Religious pil- they complete the hajj.q