tv The Vanishing Vaquita Al Jazeera December 17, 2019 12:32pm-1:01pm +03
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13th day disrupting flights and public transport many fear they could not continue through the christmas holiday in the 3rd consecutive night of protests in lebanon's capital supporters of the 2 main shiite groups hezbollah and amal have fought with security forces police repeatedly fied tear gas and water town and to disperse hundreds of protesters in beirut that was just hours after lebanon's president michel aoun delayed consultations with political parties on naming the next potential prime minister and human rights watch is accusing israel of using sweeping military orders to criminalize nonviolent political activity by palestinians in the west bank it says in a report the orders are being used to shut down media outlets to out will political organizations and jail time to posts how those along in 25 minutes with the news hour next on our busier techno.
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al-jazeera where every. this is the fact this morning. on the planet could soon be lost. with an international team of scientists is determined not to let that happen now it's a race against time to try and save a species. without intervention how long do you give the big i would say year 2 about us to this is the hail mary for potatoes. this techno a show about innovations that can change lives we're going to explore the intersection of heart and humanity and we're doing it in a unique way this is a show about science by scientists.
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the vet keita is the most endangered marine mammal is a naturally elusive this has never been captured tagged was studied up close by marine biologists. techno is married to davison and chris would deal with take a crisis that's an emergency plan to stave off extinction the gulf of california one of the most beautiful marine sanctuaries in the world it is here in the target gulf waters at the edge of the baja california desert the world's smallest cetacean has found a home power when all the money that one of the earth everybody does yes. america because of the motive. what you have and the wreckage that is found nowhere else right this is the only place that it exists yes exactly this is the only place this is and they make these issues. whether someone is of ok only we can find if you're not on the place in the war mexico we are so lucky to have these as these are
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poised belongs in mexico you know if they but get them both here if you are. going us in a hole is an acoustic research or for mexico's government sponsored iraqi to rescue project today stop when his team plan to deploy several submerged will see pods or underwater listening devices the pods are used to track but keep us his research picked up the early warning signs that indicate at the back of the population was crushing the data is sent to researchers in san diego crystal dilworth has that part of the story tell me what is that the key to and why do you love them so much the cases are especially i think a lovely part as because they have a nice paint job they have sort of like black mascara black lipstick her about a coffee going. few scientists have studied the key to as intended. barbara taylor
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she heads up in advance genetic laboratory based at the u.s. national oceanic and atmospheric administration in san diego california her main partner there and so rowe has braccio who heads up the mexican project is equally passionate about saving the key to losing the key to know in a way it's just a minute unison master if someone destroys the chick on the or. whatever the world be expecting is that nothing is going to change you're going to wake up in the morning you're going to help but the world is going to be poorer in many many ways and i think that's a situation. i think where enzo and i always thought. we can say that you know we knew it was one issue it was throughout was and we thought we could change it yeah and it's. it's a hard thing to to see you know hot it's not happening. so what is
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killing the vicky according to scientists the main culprit is gill nets used to capture and another endangered species found the gulf of california a fish named the 12 according to the environmental investigation agency demand for to be traced to china bird has sold illegally and we got a tip off about the concorde which is also in southern china is on the coast which is said to be a major center for trade in terms of the fish more some chinese believe the dry swim bladder at the 12 improve skin and liver conditions and figure a circulation and stops bleeding none of this has been proven medically but the illegal trade into 12 is extremely lucrative. twaddle fishing in the gulf is illegal because the same nets used to catch and snare the keita they have decimated the key to population. techno merida davidson was shown how the pros that they were
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i could not but they believe this was in their work for the brewer they were keeper can you get in time with their hair here or order the order to free him so obviously they're like you they're going to refer to the sort of place and then they get things so they just get stuck here with you and they perish they're going to break. i found 3 adult that actually does since we started operation milagro and 2 new nets pre-born vikki this and i don't actually think it's all of them were neck crops see and the results of the examination show that they all die of a 6 year and all had like marks of nets under 16 so they dying because of that's a 2 hour that is for sure you know leo is captain of the sea shepherd
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a marine conservation group that voluntarily patrols the opera gulf $4.00 to $125.00 dead lucky to us were found in the gulf from january to may 2017 it's a horrific to see how much sea creatures are trapped on those nets it's heartbreaking for this protected marine mammals are dying for no reason they're just died mr to lie about it it's it's horrible. the story of the vacuum is a classic collapse of a species scientists began tracking back in the late 1990 s. and we determined 20 years ago that the fishing ban was unsustainable for bakita bay would we predicted that they would be declining about this problem for 20 years . well i mean the people who originally found them found them dead on the beach.
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from fishing nets and said hey here's a porpoise nobody's ever found a porpoise here it can't be very common and it's dying in fishing nets and so yes he's was discovered because it was dying yeah it was found dead on beaches and in fishing dubs you know it's sort of odd that people wouldn't see it but the more you get to know this shy animal the more you understand that you really have to know what you're looking for and you really have to look for them to see them because they avoid any motorised vessel and they're really small they're only in groups of one or 2 so they're really difficult to see they are like the flashy dolphins and come up and ride your bow and you know you get to see every aspect of their lives and porpoises are very shy they move away and so you really have to look for them with like really big binoculars with bucky dust on the brink of extinction the team made a decision that was as bold as it was all day shoots in order to save the bucky the remaining population now numbering less than 30 would have to be taken into
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captivity the plan was implemented in november 2016 at that meeting of service the international committee to save the bucky the only option is separate. from the main respects were voted skilling. for 12 agreements at this point in time and also i mean they are of no ones but what we really know is that if we don't take them out they wouldn't get so this is the lesser of 2 evils you know it's what black or white techno was given preliminary plans that spell out how to capture the elusive but keep us and bring them to the northernmost cove in the gulf where they would be held in sea pens and kept under guard 24 hours a day 7 days a week there are also plans for land based tanks systems and support apparatus. keep the capture porpoises alive in case of emergency where we've brought in this
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amazing team we're going to have about 40 people from all over the world all with different levels of expertise and we have specialists and capturing harbor porpoises from denmark and the netherlands we have veterinarians that have worked with porpoises from hong kong to to the netherlands we have people who have specialized in taking capturing so we have that that team that we have the team of people who i work with that are experts in finding them will be using both acoustics and visual and we're even going to be bringing in maybe dolphins to help us try to track this really elusive species the u.s. navy's marine mammal program utilizes bottlenose dolphins to locate underwater sea mines little is known about the vacuum no one has ever tag them or been able to study them up close the problem of how to capture them and large but during
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a scientific team meeting a breakthrough from a scientist who works with the navy program in here that never think of using maybe don't fence or miller and i mean that's completely out of my. way to old books and she said well you know if they can find diverse and objects in the water and sure they could find what you. next day we went to the maybe facility for years they trained the dolphins they took them to the golden gate in san francisco where they have harbor porpoises swimming in the dolphins wherever to find it so when we sold that part who seem to be the most difficult one for well. here we are. i'm floating in the middle of the bucky the refuge area here in the gulf of california now this refuge was set up by the mexican government to protect the fact that the populations are what's left of them they've set up here because over the past several years through observation and through acoustic recordings this is where the
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rocky does really tend to hang out at least recently we've been out here for a while trying to see if we can find anybody that's no surprise to me that we haven't seen any and that really underscores how difficult and complex this mission is really going to be stuff as data analysis indicates the remaining buckey of the population may be concentrating across 3 sections in the upper part of the gulf today sea pod drop will try to confirm those locations so we've just arrived at one of the points where they're going to drop down a moring and attach to that is going to be potus so it's the acoustic measuring device that they leave for 4 months here to measure and and pick up the sounds of the vacuum clicks so that's what we've done we've we've navigated here via via g.p.s. it's a really vast area and they've set up at the kitchen please 87 they're going to put out 87 of the c. pods right now we're putting up the last 8. years. later
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back on shore showed us a computer program that allows us to hear the bucky humans can't hear the clicks you know because they're too high frequency but there's a way for you to modify them so that we actually could you have me listen to this of course like a walk around my. base in wanted by the program and now you. are looking for wow. the bucket the refuge measures in area 64 by nearly 100 kilometers along the upper 3rd of the gulf of california when you are in it the refuge seems vast and problematic to police effectively. since 2005 gill net fishing has been banned here but the real story is much different. especially at night it is pretty dramatic and crazy every night it's so busy it never stops we
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have amazing radars on our bridge of the time time when and if it's and on us radars we can see the new activity at nights because poachers really go out at night the night of march 11th 2017 was busier than most of the sea shepherds farley mowat here on patrol for poachers spotted a small fishing boat in the back of the refuge. and when we see a target ladies we get our ship as close as possible and then the drone team is going to be ready to drop the drone was able to film these illegal fishermen with what appeared to be a boat load of 12 of the fishermen noticed the thrown and began hurling objects at it then we get the 4th age. legal fisherman retreating to 2 odd minutes getting to a 2 hour bus i call to. tell them to position. tell them what
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we're seeing at the same time and and then they calm and they tried to arrest them the next day the ship caught another seemingly bolder group fishing in broad daylight this was the 1st time the drone was able to capture full daylight images of a boat load of coach to 12 and 12 minutes can the big problem is money just like always . illegal fishing activity for to brings out a lot of money because china is opening a black market that is attracting a lot of organized crime says it's a 2 hour bus and batteries for more than 20000 dollars a kilo of course when you come to those fishing villages where the minimum wage is so low and they can make $5000.00 a kilo locally with a good one. swim bladder. the mexican government has invested so far
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over a 1000000000 pixels in compensating fishermen and from someone go forward it isn't a scientist but he co-chairs the baccy the rescue program in mexico he created a plan to use economic incentives to keep your nets out of the gulf for the past 2 years mexico has paid fishermen not to fish until alternative gear that don't kill back ether could be developed you can imagine going to the communities and trying to convince families not to go back and fish which is what they have been doing for generations that's who they are right as part of their identity i would say and that's the whole purpose also of these programs to have them go back and fish but being able to do so without arguing but you know. it's important for mexico to save the market for from extinction and i would do it's equivalent to the same efforts as china has been doing to save panda mexico's efforts have seen mixed
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results progress has been made but the numbers don't lie the bucky is almost gone there recently that we are where we are it's because our fishing overages have failed to come with alternative fishing gear for 2 decades i mean that's incredible they haven't been able to do it even if i had 20 years ago if they had hired mit or who would have already something. but the preacher is barman has a monopole embury the only one tests alternative theories with that's horrible. it is early morning in ensign on the mexico techno has been invited to travel out to the pacific ocean to see where the bucket the rescue plan is truly taking shape these pens belong to bottle farms a mexican tuna farming company the bakkies a rescue team turned to them for help where where would the natural be these big problem we have the big danger of losing the back you know so we are aware of that
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we are delighted to be part of or. is the operations manager of a quad you'll see on the a c pen designed to give tourists an up close view of the tuna farming business this camera is currently located off the coast of ensign out of mexico on the pacific side of baja california and contains hundreds of bluefin tuna but before long it will be moved to the gulf of california and if all goes well with a back up the rescue effort instead of china there will be by keep us swimming within it be bunko provided renderings of the redesigned bucket the pen which feature 2 observation tubs this tourist attraction will become a floating laboratory you know we're looking at the tuna in the observation area it struck me that they're feeding very close to the surface and that's not normally how they feed right. so they've had to learn
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a new way of feeding and that will essentially be the case for them i keep them i suppose so. as far as i know the rocky days eating the same thing that the dolphins 2 of the open ocean that i mean they are eating small fish and sweet things play out there for when those kind of organisms of the ocean differently they record. and is going to learn how to eat the rocky the pan will be taken here to the northernmost end of the gulf in an area called much or a cove gustava showed us the area during our gulf tour the blue building i'm sure is an old trick processing plant that will be converted to an on site veterinary care center so you think that's the best shot absolutely it's not only the best shot but it's the only shot that we have we're going to have facilities in the ocean we're going to have some also limited land and we're also looking to one of
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the. most important pieces of these projects was to have a facility right in the heart of the of a key. area where we can have vets where we can have 247 care for but keep those there we could be monitoring them we can learn a little bit more about but there is a little opposition to the rescue plan within the scientific community the conservation groups led by the sea shepherd society believe the problem should be solved without captivity shavar has always been fighting against captivity cultivates and for me it's not a solution and 1st ship is not a solution because saving on anymore is not having it in a swimming pool and it should be free and leaving its life and contributing to the eco system kind of a maybe it's not working right now and plan b. those 2 means not. there are many questions surrounding the capture program but if
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scientists are successful the next step in the process will be to try and breed that you keep scientists in san diego are getting ready these will be the ancestors of all the cute and into the future this breeding program so we need to make sure that we know what we've got and keep that variation that natural genetic variation in that population into the future phillip more in we're expected to keep the rescue team. in san diego he's a research molecular geneticist is that the key to can be successfully bred in captivity he will have to figure out how to make the genetics where so they keep us special because it lacks this genetic diversity that other species do how is it managed to survive for so long so what we believe happens in a population like species like the key to it is that they've been into small population size for a long time so the bad person has slowly been purged from the species so that means
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they have less of the bad diversity they also have less of the good diversity. but in a stable environment like the northern gulf of california they've managed to survive and there is still diversity is not to say they have none because of this lack of diversity in the big kita is it possible to accidentally do harm to this species through the breeding programs that you're developing. yes yeah i mean there is no way to avoid that we're going to lose diversity. there's no way to avoid that because we're collapsing the population from thousands down to a few and then they're going to have to breed to some extent with the same individuals in order to build that population up. more and has been studying the akita using tissue samples stored in the deep freeze at the san diego fisheries science center it's cold in here minus 20 degrees celsius and besides myself in this open here there's about 200000 tissue samples from a variety of marine smokey's 45 of those samples are from the khuda and that's the
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hope that those samples contain some still current and i think information that can help save that species and how long the samples keep at this time all these samples are about 30 years old now and we're still extracting d.n.a. from them. so we're hoping they're going to last a long time so it's like science evolves just the right time to be able to help the big key to right before it they go extinct the ability to culture cells and transform them is changing right now so that if we get living cells from the skins of of these aquino's or brought into captivity we can keep them alive in the lab we can transform them into any types of cells we want so even if we catch an animal. that may be too old to reproduce or only reproduces once the fort it can't reproduce a more if we have those cells it's possible we can convert those into dam eats into sperm and egg cells in the future and use them put them back in the population as
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if that in the most alive. advanced genetics may end up being the game changer for that the key to san diego's frozen c 2 has played a key role in trying to save many nearly extinct species a porpoise and a right nasir might not seem to have that much in common but scientists here at the frozen zoo at san diego zoo global are working to save the norm. they're in white right now and techniques they developed could act as a blueprint to save that the key to we are pretty confident that if we get a good quality sample will be able to grow and successfully freeze the cells that's going to tell us more about the vicki to it's going to say something about its population history it will provide may be. very useful information about whether there's enough genetic diversity in the remaining population to allow it to recover and expand all of a writer is director of the frozen zoo it holds more than 10000 living cell
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cultures if nothing else works the frozen samples would become a last resort for an extinct species the vicky is such an endgame at the end of the day all we may have are cells and we mustn't though. ignore that. we're engaging in a in a in an enterprise that we don't know ultimately if. time is running out for the science maybe it's not the type but it comes with the price tag the rescue effort is expected to cost $5000000.00 u.s. dollars the u.s. national marine mammal foundation says it has 4500000 on hand 3 minute and come from the mexican government the rest from private donors many of the scientists the donating the tiny hole to give the key to
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a fighting chance for tech crunch in the summer. this is a boon for point people right now in technology there is so much going to help people it's from rob thanks for calling i read this is there and what are you looking for today we get to assist the client with their day to day tasks and give them more independence and freedom this was our go to little sure is a tomato exploration process was amazing in a way we have that technology available to us.
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are very receptive. because it is such an international city they're very interested in that global perspective that provides. the model. pole. al-jazeera. and this is the al-jazeera news are coming out for you in the next 60 minutes. pakistan's former presidents pervez musharraf is sentenced to death on charges of treason for suspending the constitution in 2007. workers are still on strike over pension reforms as the busy christmas holiday
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