The world’s most endangered marine mammal, a lesser porpoise named vaquita, lives on and appears to be benefiting from new conservation measures, according to the findings of a new scientific survey of the species released on Wednesday.
An international team of scientists estimated that at least ten vaquitas still exist in the Gulf of California, the waters that separate Baja California from mainland Mexico. The porpoises are found nowhere else and have been driven to the brink of extinction by drowning in gill nets, a type of fishing gear that floats like a giant mesh curtain and catches fish with its gills. Dolphins, sea turtles and vaquitas also get stuck and die if they don’t come to the surface to breathe.
“Today we have good news, hopeful news,” María Luisa Albores González, Mexico’s Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, said at a news conference announcing the poll results.
The researchers used visual identification and acoustic monitoring to survey the population for 17 days in May. Among video footage of the elusive animals was a small dorsal fin emerging alongside a larger one, evidence that a calf was swimming alongside its mother.
The estimated number of vaquitas in the new survey was similar to the previous one, conducted in 2021. At the time, researchers were horrified by what else they saw: more than 100 fishing boats in a tightly protected zone known as the zero-tolerance area. At that time the Mexican Navy acknowledged the lack of enforcement to The Times.
Since then, the Navy has worked more closely with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a non-profit organization that patrols the region in search of gillnets. And last year the Navy took an important new step by dropping into zero tolerance a grid of 193 concrete blocks with protruding hooks designed to snag gillnets. According to the new report, the number of gillnets there appears to have decreased by more than 90 percent.
“This is the greatest conservation success for Vaquita I’ve seen in 30 years,” said Barbara Taylor, a biologist and Vaquita expert who led the survey and recently retired from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.
But more is needed to save the species, she said. While no gillnets were observed in the zero tolerance area during the survey, they were seen regularly to the northwest where vaquita were also sighted. Officially, the equipment is prohibited in another zone outside of the zero tolerance area.
The report recommends expanding the use of concrete blocks.
“This is such a simple and straightforward task for the Mexican government,” said Dr. Taylor. “They know where to do it, they know where to go, they know it’s going to make a difference right away, ahead of the next fishing season.”
A more difficult step is converting the local economy, which relies on gillnets, to new equipment. A large and endangered fish in the region, the totoaba, has made the situation particularly unstable as its swim bladder fetches high prices in Asia, attracting illicit trade and organized crime. But legal species are also fished with gillnets, including shrimp, corvina and mackerel.
A local initiative to promote Vaquita safe gear is being run by a group called Pesca ABC. His methods result in a higher quality catch, but so far there has been only enough demand from seafood buyers to feed about 30 fishermen.
Katy Carpio works with Pesca ABC and was one of the few community members to take the survey and receive training on animal identification. Traveling with the researchers, she saw a Vaquita for the first time.
“It was a lot of emotion,” she said. “Good luck, adrenaline.”
The animals are so rare and difficult to spot that many in the community don’t believe they exist. “They tell me, ‘It was a dolphin, it was this, it was that,'” Ms. Carpio said. “And I tell them, ‘Wait until they post the results, then see the pictures.'”
The key for the future is to find solutions that work for both vaquitas and fishermen.
Mexico is under increasing international pressure to enforce gillnet fishing bans throughout the protected vaquita habitat. The country faces current or potential trade sanctions under two United States laws, a Global Wildlife Trade Treaty and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
Obtaining the species by capturing some of these is not an option. A The attempt to do just that in 2017 was abandoned after an animal was so stressed by human contact that it died.
“A lot of very experienced people thought the vaquita would be gone by now,” said Kristin Nowell, executive director of Cetacean Action Treasury, a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving the vaquita from extinction. “The fact that it’s doing better than expected gives Mexico another chance to get it right.”
