A Mexican drift-net fisherman displays a poisonous lupon, or scorpion fish, caught as by-catch in the 1km long drift net used on the panga fishing boat he works on. Though pangas themselves are small fishing boats, their sheer numbers pose a great threat to the marine environment at the northern end of the Gulf of California, including the critically endangered vaquita dolphin. There are 220 bottom-trawling panga's using drift-nets operating from the small town of San Felipe alone.
The Greenpeace vessel 'MY Esperanza' is currently in Mexico to highlight the threats from overfishing, destructive tourism development, pollution and marine habitat loss.