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namu-the-orca — Out of time
#california #drowning #endangered #entangled #entanglement #extinct #extinction #gulf #marina #mexico #nets #porpoise #sinus #vaquita #phocoena
Published: 2019-07-03 13:18:03 +0000 UTC; Views: 3591; Favourites: 254; Downloads: 0
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Description
There it is. The surface. So close the light dances painfully in her eyes. She can’t help but keep looking. So close. And yet something keeps her down. Invisible tendrils stroked her side in a completely unpleasant way, like a jellyfish she didn’t see in time. But instead of swirling away when she flicked her tail at them, the silvery strands held fast. The more she twisted the more it grabbed her. Her flukes and fins ache from the sharp bites it delivered. So now she hangs still, because moving hurts. Something needs to be done. But what? There it is, the surface. So close. But somehow, it is getting darker.Another commission for the lovely people at the Porpoise Conservation Society to draw attention to what is probably the vaquita’s swan song. This species is running out of time. The attempted captive breeding project was not a succes. Now only a handful remain. Their fate remains uncertain, but unless the Mexican government steps up hard, it will soon be sealed.
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Comments: 43
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I have hope and faith that the species will keep on living and teach us how to put effort into protecting even those species with only a pair or family left in existence.
Let's hope the Vaquita can hold on and stay strong.
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I really, really hope alongside you, but I'm not quite so sure. The numbers have dwindled so much, I don't know if they can pull through. We'll have to see and try our best, though the effort seems to have died down a bit.
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There was a report of a Vaquita with a calf by its side, so maybe, just maybe there is still hope
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Oh that is wonderful news indeed! All the best luck to them
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this is beautiful and sad and my favourite. the composition is *smerp* and of course it uses one of my personal classically favourite colour schemes which is reddish-purple on greyish-bluish-green. very bruisy sorts of colours. and i love the nets glistening faintly the way they might look if you had echolocation. how horrendously insidious. (plus it reminds me of my least favourite sequence in dotf)
not to mention the story. yikes. excellently written and totally my style. and so damn sad. the whole thing is sad.
the whole plight of the vaquita is depressing, but i wish more people wanted to spread awareness of the also-fucked totoaba which is caught in the same net, if you will. i've only seen one or maybe two pieces featuring them alongside the vaquita despite how intricately their situations are intertwined. IT MIGHT BE TIME TO TRY MY HAND.
ANYWAY. its a shame you had to make this at all, but for what it's worth you've done an excellent job.
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hey your comments are SO KIND and i love them and that's why it took me so godawfully long to reply - because i loved it so much i didn't quite know what to say. well gosh most of all thank youuu. it is so nice when someone else sees the shit you try to put into a painting. also i totally had to think of you when picking the colours. you're a master of finding beautiful moody hues and i really tried to follow your example. and senpai noticed meeee aaa. those nets weren't even made with echolocation in mind, but i do wonder now if they'd look as elusive in sound as they do in sight. they're scary things either way.
o gosh and the story, i'm so happy you like it. that sort of rolled out during uploading and i ended up loving it.
ah and YOU SPEAK MY LANGUAGE. totoabas deserve more love for sure. if it weren't for my lack of fish skills and the fact the commissioners were all about porps and porps only... darn you're right people should be making more art for them too. they're in fact the reason for the vaquita's demise and damn near extinct as well. can't hope to solve one problem without solving the other. I CAN BARELY IMAGINE HOW GLORIOUS A VAQUIT-TOTOABA PIECE FROM YOU WOULD BE.
thanks man. it is a shitty situation for sure. and to think my first vaquita painting was to warn for the last 250. now there's less than a handful.
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WELL this one gave me a lot of feels which needed a lot of words~ eeeee yay im colour inspo
fish are really fucking hard to draw 
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I llllove love love your artwork! You're really got a knack for capturing these wonderful animals in an incrediblly lively manner, some animal illustrations feel lifeless and sterile almost, but I've never got that feeling when looking at anything you've made. keep up the great work!
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Thank you so much! Keeping life in my paintings and illustrations too is something I actively strive for so I am happy to hear it shows
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It absolutely does! I also really like that you sometimes show things regular people woiuld have no way of knowing about, like the killer whale with scoliosis, that was super interesting!
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They need all the good thoughts they can get - and then some good action too..
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And why don't we capture all the remaoing vaqutia and put them in an aquarium?
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Yeah, as I mentioned, the attempt at captive breeding was halted when a female died from stress. Porpoises generally do poorly in captivity and the vaquita seems to be no exception. The species might be doomed already... but then again with such an attitude they won't ever be saved. Other species have come back from the brink against all odds.
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sadly that's been tried, but porpoises have a hard time adapting to captivity. some get so stressed out being caught they die of fright
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Why should we so dependant on mexican gov't 2 take imideiate action when they don't give a shit?!?
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A yotube on the sci show says that the Vaquita are probably beyond saving.
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I literally thought it was a photo at first dhasdkjsa this is amazing, beautiful artwork and beautiful advocacy. The way the nets look are so gorgeous and symbolic, this is such a well-composed piece
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pfffff thank you so much ;w; I'm really, really happy the symbolism and composition work out here. It was a super speedy commission and we could either go with a very standard in-your-face piece or this one... very glad I got to go with the more symbolic piece and that it worked out as intended ♥
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I understand that most marine plastic is abandoned fishing gear, not drinking straws and crisp packets (harmful though those things are). This is a beautiful picture of a tragic tale, much like the heartbreaking scene in Blue Planet II. Let's hope Mexico see the light but I'm not optimistic...
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Yeah ghost nets are an awful problem, because they so actively ensnare marine life. In the case of the vaquita things are more tragic, where people fish in their water on purpose (despite it being illegal) in hopes of catching a large sea bass, the Totoaba. It is prised in China for 'medicinal purposes' and thus an irresistible source of income for the poor fishermen. The vaquita keep getting entangled and at the same time the totoaba is being fished to extinction as well.
My hope is admittedly bleak as well, but it is all we have for now... Direct action from outside had failed, now the problem needs to be solved on the ground, with enforcement but most importantly compensation for the angered fishermen as well. Right now they'd rather see the vaquita go extinct than live, because then they can 'get on with their lives' again...
Thank you for your comment
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Chinese "medicine" has caused so much harm! How can we kill off these stupid, dangerous superstitions though, when we can't even convince people to vaccinate (which we all know works)?
Maybe - just maybe - Thanos was right?
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Yes it is a very harmful superstition, and the rarer the animal gets the greater their "medicinal" powers of course become... It is very hard to combat, especially since facts often do little to counter such ingrained superstitions. However, I once read of an educator who tried to convince their Asian audience of the importance of protecting rhinos and not using their horns. First half of the evening she brought on facts and conservation issues - and no one really cared. Second half she'd had enough and basically started telling people that the rhino spirits had become vengeful for the killing, and that instead of bringing good luck, rhino horn would now bring only bad luck into their homes. And suddenly, everybody in the room perked up and listened dead serious. It's a bit sad having to counter nonsense with nonsense, but sometimes it works for better than straight education...
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Fighting fire with fire is a valid method - ask a Ranger. In the specific case of rhino horns, it's supposed to be an aphrodisiac, so presumably the whole thing could be fixed by giving these people "Unicorn tablets" made from Viagra (which we are 100% sure would work, unlike the rhino horn, which is at best 30% effective due to placebo.
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Thank you. Yeah it is a very sad situation indeed.. I do wonder if the Mexican government will step up to save these last few animals or if we should consider them functionally extinct...
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Why did the captive breeding product fail?
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The first animal they captured was a young one, estimated at only 6 months old. He wouldn't have survived without his mother, so they had to release him again. The second animal they caught was an adult female, but she died of stress during the capture procedure. At that point the decision was made to stop any further capture efforts.
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There's still hope that the species will survive, we should never give up on protecting the Vaquita.
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We definitely shouldn't - that's the exact purpose of this piece 
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I so appreciate your comment, because that was exactly what I wanted to portray with this piece. That eerie net, almost invisible even for the animals that live amongst them. The main reason they entrap so many. There might be hope still, perhaps this one freed herself... but for the species as a whole - it is such a complex problem, also with an often forgotten human aspect to it. A lot needs to be done very quickly if the vaquita wants to stand a chance of survival.
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Yeah, that’s true with the human aspect involved.
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