The Vaquita Marina May Disappear

Published in El Vigía 2007-11-21 00:00:00
Ensenada, B. C. - A study published last week by researchers at the National Ecology Institute suggests that the vaquita marina is closer to extinction than previously thought, being the most threatened species of marine mammal in the world.

According to the study, carried out by the foremost specialists with this topic, the surviving population is estimated to be composed of only 150 individuals, whose habitat is exclusive to the Upper Gulf of California.

“If we do not act immediately, the vaquita marina will go extinct”, states Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho, director of the National Program of Marine Mammals of the National Ecology Institute and co-author of this published study. In light of this new information, it is possible that the vaquita marina will follow the tragic history of the dolphin endemic to the Yangtze River, declared to be extinct in China this past year.

The team estimates that only two years remain to save the vaquita marina, the smallest porpoise who drowns in gillnets. In 1999, the researchers estimated that the population was less than 600 individuals.

According to Armanda Jaramillo-Legorreta, principal author of the recent published report, the increasing number of boats and gillnets is killing a minimum of 40 vaquitas each year. This number is dramatically high, considering that there only remain 150 live vaquitas in the world and that a minimum of 100 individuals are required to allow the population to reproduce.

The attempts to create no-fishing zones and to remove fishing equipment from the area have failed in the past. However, a coalition of conservation organizations and the federal government have initiated a new process to purchase the equipment of the local fishermen who use the area and to assist them in creating new business initiatives aside from fishing. This program relies on the support of Mexico´s president, Felipe Calderón, in the case that a few representatives of the fishing sector oppose the limitation of their activities.

The report indicates that it is no necessary to undertake further investigation of the vaquita, but that it is necessary to act immediately to completely eliminate the use of gillnets in the area of distribution of this species.

The removal of fishing equipment from the zone must be accompanied by intensive surveillance that would exclude new gillnets or boats from entering the Upper Gulf, for which federal funds have already been allocated.

However, the actual scenario that has been proposed for the removal of gillnets is voluntary. This scenario is appropriate to reduce the total fishing force in the zone but will not eliminate gillnets in totality, which is what is lacking to avoid future deaths of the vaquita. This is attributed to the reticence of the fishing sector, private and governmental, to accept that the vaquita is in imminent danger of extinction and that the incidental capture in gillnets is causing their total disappearance from the planet.

“This is completely unacceptable for Mexico, who has always protected whales and dolphins on a national and international level, to lose a marine mammal that is emblematic of the Gulf of California”, stated Gustavo Danemann, director of Pronatura Northwest. “We should not lose one day in the fight against time and the extinction of the vaquita, which would be completely irreversible. Fisheries and any other economic activity should be conducted in a manner that is compatible with the conservation of flora, fauna and ecosystems of our country.”