Blog from the Sea of Cortez: Santomar

At the invitation of iAllumbra, we visited a Red Snapper and Totoaba fish hatchery owned and managed by Santomar, located near La Paz.

Totoaba? Isn't that the endangered fish coveted by the Chinese for their swim bladder? The one whose demise has also caused the inevitable extinction of the diminutive porpoise, the Vaquita? Yes, it is. While they are under a lot of pressure in the wild, it turns they are well suited for being grown in a fish farm. The facility we visited, located about 20 minutes away in industrial Pichilingue seemed like an unlikely place for a hatchery, but inside, it is a truly remarkable high-tech place.

Under one roof, the hatchery replicates the entire food chain of Totoaba fingerlings, from algae to copepod. There are hundreds of details that must be mastered. For example, algae is grown under artificial light because the sun would make the water too hot, which would require more energy to cool down than the electricity used by LEDs. Because totoaba only spawns in the spring, the facility needs to mimic all four seasons to ensure a year-round product --- the intensity and duration of sunlight varies accordingly.

Winter season at the hatchery.
Eggs will be harvested from these fish.

Spring. The adults are slightly larger,
and a lot more active. This is the stage at
which the eggs are harvested.

Tanks used to grow the larvae into fry.
The red lights keep the fish calm.

All these details must be mastered, but what matters most is the yield of fingerlings. Once they are moved into the open ocean pens, the process gets a lot more straightforward.

I asked them whether they sell the swim bladder. After all, if the hatchery could put more on the market, that would reduce demand for wild totoaba, reducing pressure on the few remaining as well as the hapless vaquita. Unfortunately, Mexican law doesn't allow them to do that. The law is simple: you cannot sell totoaba swim bladders. Anything more nuanced could create a cover for the already lucrative black market. 

La Paz is a lovely, charming town, but I didn't expect to see something so high-tech in it. I really enjoyed our visit and learned a ton. Thanks to our hosts, Santomar!