"Espiritu Santo es parte de ti"

Building Public Pride

Through public awareness we are making excellent progress working to install a sense of community pride in the Espiritu Santo National Park.

The campaign teamed with Urbanería and Colectivo Tomate (local and national nonprofit organizations that work to improve public spaces) to design and install 30 murals in downtown La Paz with the help of 27 national artists. These murals have captivated the attention of the citizens of La Paz and tourists, inspiring people to become more aware of the need to protect our marine environment.

Responsible Consumption With Parrotfish-Free Restaurants

Click to Enlarge the Brochure

It is not illegal to consume, sell or buy parrotfish sold at markets and restaurants, but they are nearly always killed by illegal fishing methods. Pistoleros (divers using compressed air harpoon fish while they sleep at night) and encerradores (divers using compressed air drive fish into nets located on reefs during the day). Mexican law prohibits using any form of compressed air to extract fish from the ocean.

Each participating restaurant distributes this brochure. The back side of the brochure is a parrotfish for kids to color while they are in the restaurant.

Most major supermarkets in La Paz (including Chedraui and Walmart) have committed to stop selling parrotfish in their La Paz stores. Most of the restaurants we have contacted have committed to stop serving parrotfish. We are interviewing restaurant owners and chefs as spokespeople for the campaign. Watch the following interview with Restaurant Anzuelo below (it has received over 20,000 views on Facebook!).

Awareness Through School Visits

The team is making presentations at La Paz schools of all educational levels as a part of the campaign dedicated to raising awareness in the recovery of the reefs at Espiritu Santo National Park and in consuming fish responsibly. 10 schools and over 1,000 students were were visited in 2018 with a photographic exibition and instruction about the vital role of the parrotfish on the reefs. During the next school year the campaign team will continue the visits bringing the conservation message of Espiritu Santo.

Plastic

Concerned about the levels of plastics in the sea, Espiritu Santo es parte de ti worked with citizen activists to ban single-use plastics and appealed to the local comjunity to stop using plastic bags and switch to paper bags. As a result,in October, 2018 the local government passed a law to ban single-use plastics in Baja California Sur.