Studying Giant Mantas
%2014_58_14.png)
" These projects are only achieved through passion and dedication, and they are certainly projects I would like to participate in and contribute to. "
Alonso I. Rodríguez de la Parra, explorer and documentary filmmaker.
Sunset in La Paz - Alonso I. Rodríguez de la Parra
This chapter jumps between the distant and not-so-distant past; I had to change several parts due to things that happened. There will be parts that leave you in doubt, but everything will be resolved in due time...
It's difficult to develop an idea when you have conflicting feelings about the same topic or concept. Something that makes you deeply happy suddenly turns into bad news, something profoundly sad. Sometimes, that sadness should serve as motivation, but this time it's not a motivation that feels good; it's a motivation that feels more like an obligation, and obligation isn't bad either, it's just sad. It's sad because the life of someone who, in my eyes, is the greatest warrior, now hangs in the balance, between this life and the next. A warrior who has accomplished immense work, and now we must do everything possible to honor what has already been achieved and fulfill her wishes. But before we give up the fight, I invite you to pray. I'm not a religious person, but I believe that our collective energy can do things that even science couldn't explain. There are times when, even though my skepticism prevents me from believing in miracles, I wish with all my heart that they do exist. I hope these next lines serve as a kind of prayer, and that you can offer the time you take to read this so that a miracle may happen and this warrior, whom I haven't yet mentioned, may accompany and guide us for much longer. I knew her for a very short time, but her energy and personality conveyed a lifetime of learning to me in just a few moments.
Dolphins - Alonso I. Rodríguez de la Parra
It was last year, 2023, and I was meeting with my coworkers as we decided what to do for Ocean Week. This week is one in which, with good friends and colleagues, we make a tremendous effort to raise awareness throughout Mexico. Although it may seem like we're covering a lot, the truth is there's still so much to do, so many minds to reach, and so many people to convince to join this movement. During this period of planning and endless meetings and calls, I had the opportunity to travel quite a bit promoting my mission and vision, which are really the mission and vision I gave to my company, "Mares de México" (Seas of Mexico). Initially, the motivation was to encourage people to participate in the collective effort to protect Mexico's seas. And if you think this is an easy task, let me tell you, it's anything but. Sometimes I want to give it all up and go back to selling fruit, go back to playing music with a band, and return to touring. What used to be fun tours, full of parties and late nights, are now tours along the Mexican coast to learn about the various marine conservation projects that exist throughout the country. When I started this, I thought collaboration would be easy, but as my research progressed, I realized how difficult it was. Many projects are burdened by past traumas that make collaboration very difficult—traumas inflicted by other companies for not being honest in their words and only using other people's projects for their own benefit. Truly, breaking down that barrier was, and continues to be, very difficult. I thought that some good photos and a couple of good stories would be enough to start generating donations and get people involved in saving the ocean. It's not like that. We're all busy trying to save ourselves most of the time. But we don't realize that the only way to save ourselves is by saving others. I wrote a saying I came up with on the door of my museum in Toluca. This saying goes: "The more you give, the more you receive, and you help keep the flow of abundance in balance." What do I mean by this? My logic is that the more you give, the more you'll receive. It's not always that simple, but if we all start giving enough, there will be enough to give in the future. So this, combined with everyone's cooperation and a little patience, will mean there's much more in the world, we need much less, and there's much more to give.
Oceans Week 2023 Poster
This museum in Toluca is what allows me to pursue and realize many of the adventures and crazy ideas I have. Ideas that don't yet bring me financial compensation, but have allowed me to contribute significantly to various marine conservation projects. And when I don't have money, there's something I can give that no one but myself can take away: I can give my time to film, collaborate, or participate in these marine conservation projects. I'll tell you more about the vision for this museum and project later; it seems to me to be in its early stages. But with your participation, we could achieve those much-lauded "miracles" and do our part to save the oceans, and consequently, ourselves.
Planning the Ocean Week event was a complete success. We managed to generate a significant movement and meet people with incredible projects, a thousand times more productive and intelligent than mine. People I deeply admire, people who work wonders with their time and achieve things that all the money in the world couldn't. These projects are only possible with passion and dedication, and they are definitely projects I would love to participate in and contribute to.
Technological Pavilion of the Seas of Mexico
On these seemingly endless tours, I made some wonderful friends, friends I truly admire. Among them, I met a young man named Esteban Salazar, a biologist and explorer who had just moved to La Paz. It was quite strange, because he was the one who messaged me on Instagram, saying he really liked my photos, and when he saw I was in La Paz, he invited me for a beer at the famous Harker bar. By a twist of fate, I was completely alone and had no plans, so I accepted his invitation. When we arrived, I could tell he was very excited to meet me, which struck me as odd, since I don't consider myself a celebrity at all, and I don't even think I have enough followers to be considered famous. As we started talking, I was amazed by what he told me. Esteban is a marine biologist with a remarkable vision for where he wants to take his projects. He has brilliant ideas related to species protection and the study of areas with higher density and movement patterns of certain species groups in specific locations. By using georeferenced data on their movements, Esteban created an analytical model to predict the behavior and locations of various species. This is a double-edged sword in the wrong hands, but I have no doubt that Esteban is more than just a genius; he is a kind and genuinely intelligent person. There is still so much to be done with Esteban, but in this story I'm telling you, it was he who introduced me to Lena, a Portuguese woman who, although her personality is a bit difficult to understand, is very kind and noble, and she does everything with enormous dedication and heart.
Different landscapes - Alonso I. Rodríguez de la Parra
Lena is a marine biologist with extraordinary abilities. Meeting people like her and Esteban is undoubtedly like meeting the stars of my favorite bands back when I was making music. Part of me still couldn't believe that my work was allowing me to meet people like them. My childhood dream was to be a veterinarian or a biologist, and for reasons that aren't very important, I took other paths and ended up studying music and a business degree in the entertainment industry, which seemed to take me further away from my childhood dreams. But I didn't intend to live my life ignoring that inner child, so I chose to do everything possible to get closer to that world and contribute with the things I know how to do, which I'm still discovering, if I'm honest.
During the conversations I overheard between Esteban and Lena, I realized there were certain tools that could make their work much more precise and efficient. With this in mind, and a lot of activity happening around me due to the museum, talks at various events, and my own event during Ocean Week, I was able to secure several small donations and funding from the museum itself to purchase a couple of satellite trackers. These tools allow Lena and Esteban to expand the indicators they need to obtain more information about the species and the routes they are taking.
Lena and Alonso - Brent Washburn
I gave these satellite tags to Lena. She's conducting a crucial study on a species I love: the giant oceanic manta ray. To me, Lena is like a superhero. She's estimating the giant manta ray population in Revillagigedo, gathering data to learn more about this species and continue filling in the gaps in our knowledge about it. The news about the satellite tags was very well received by Lena, and I felt incredibly proud to be able to support her and Esteban's project in any way I could. After this, Lena invited me to film her work and to join her on a boat trip to the Revillagigedo archipelago to attach the tags.
Upon hearing this news, I did everything I could to embark on this adventure, accompanying Lena to document her work and hoping that the video would bear fruit, leading to further collaboration and participation. In my rational mind, I hadn't yet fully grasped that I was collaborating with some of the world's leading researchers and institutions in science and research. That's something I think I still haven't completely processed. The truth is, I never like to celebrate "victories," because beyond seeing it as a victory, I still feel it's just one step on the long road ahead. And if I stop to celebrate, I'd be wasting valuable time. I don't like to get complacent, and I don't want a false sense of victory to cause me to slow down, because the truth is that our planet and the species that inhabit it continue to face an extremely serious risk—yes, serious.
In Revillagigedo - Alonso I. Rodríguez de la Parra
On the ship, I met some extraordinary people, even more extraordinary than Esteban and Lena combined. People whom I'm sure both Lena and Esteban admire and regard with the same affection I have for Esteban and Lena. Obviously, when I found out who we were with, I felt even smaller, and that filled me with motivation and a desire to ask questions, though I didn't want to seem like a fanboy. I tried to fulfill my role and work in the most professional way possible, always trying to help and contribute something, however small.
Lena is a mermaid underwater, and I don't mean that in terms of physical beauty, although she is very pretty, but in terms of how she operates and works while diving. She knows exactly what to do, how to approach animals cautiously, always introducing herself and letting them observe her, so that when she understands it's safe to approach, she does. I don't quite understand how she does it, but it's as if she has a connection with the magnificent giant manta rays. The protocols she follows to carry out the satellite tagging are anything but simple; they involve a great deal of delicacy, skill, and knowledge. It's not something just anyone can do. During this expedition, we were able to successfully place seven satellite tags and document the process. And although it was difficult, and at one point we thought it wouldn't work, the end result was successful and very rewarding. With this material, we can now learn more about this species. The truth is, even though we think we know a lot, the more we learn, the more we realize that new questions arise.
Alonso documenting Roca Partida - Mathieu Chardonnet
Of the seven satellite tags we deployed, I had the honor of choosing the names for two of the animals. We named one of the giant manta rays Simon, in honor of the founder of the Marine Megafauna Foundation, who accompanied us on that expedition and who, with remarkable humility despite his extensive experience, treated me as an equal, a friend, and a collaborator. What I learned most from him wasn't science or biology, but rather that a great person is always noble, and a person with great power is always kind and gentle. Simon is truly an example to follow.
We named the second giant manta ray we tagged Sofia. Giving her this name is a gift to the love of my life, whose name is Sofia, and who, even though I was far away and working, I never stopped thinking about. Now I can tell her that there's a giant manta ray that bears her name, that this animal represents the fragility of the ecosystem, but above all, the hope that with this information we can save an entire species whose numbers have declined by 95%. Yes, 95% of its species no longer exists. Most of its relatives have already disappeared from this planet.
Alonso documenting a Giant Manta Ray - Simon Pierce
And now I'm going back a bit to the beginning. It seems difficult to mention this, but on this trip, Lena introduced me to Andrea Marshall, the co-founder of the Marine Mega Fauna Foundation. Andrea seems a bit serious at first glance, but when you start talking to her, you realize her kindness, her passion, and above all, her vast knowledge and empathy when communicating her work and the topics she studies. She is the Queen of Giant Oceanic Manta Rays. She is one of the pioneers in studying this species and has made invaluable contributions, data that has greatly helped us learn more about the population and lives of these animals. She took a photograph of me that will stay with me forever, a photograph of me swimming beneath a manta ray while I try to document its magnificent swimming and take a picture to identify it—the same photograph of the manta ray I named Sofia, and I was able to send that photo to my girlfriend as a gift.
Alonso photo identifying a Giant Manta Ray - Andrea Marshall
Unfortunately, a week after that trip ended, we received some very bad news. Lena wrote to me and told me that Andrea was in a coma due to an aneurysm. It's a very serious problem; I know because my grandfather died from it. This news completely changes the perspective of this whole story, because although this trip filled me with happiness and hope, this news completely breaks my heart. After this trip, my admiration for her and all the participants is unparalleled. I can't stop thinking about how someone with such an important mission can, in an instant, find themselves in such a critical situation. Their work and dedication have changed the world of research and what we know about this species. In my mind, I can only promise that, when I wake up, I will continue to support these projects and do everything I can to contribute. And I'm sure that both Lena and Esteban will remain steadfast in their mission and will channel all these efforts into generating the necessary actions so that this beautiful species can flourish again and not be in danger of disappearing.
Sunsets that mark life - Alonso I. Rodríguez de la Parra
This text is dedicated to Andrea Marshall, to her passion and struggle, which will not be in vain, and her mission becomes ours. Please offer your prayers that Andrea may gain strength and give us many more years of research and teaching.
"There are projects that can only be achieved with passion and dedication, and these are certainly projects in which I would like to participate and contribute my bit."
Alonso I. Rodríguez de la Parra