UPDATE! The gillnet ban has been made permanent!
A creature swims in the upper Gulf of California, Mexico that occurs nowhere else on the planet. Less than five feet long, with subtle hues of gray and white, this animal is almost never seen, and was only discovered in the 1950s. Most people have never heard of it, yet it is the world’s most endangered marine mammal, with fewer than 30 individuals remaining. What is this mystery creature?
The vaquita (vuh-KEE-tuh), Phocoena sinus, is a tiny porpoise (porpoises are similar to dolphins, but smaller and without a prominent beak) that only lives in a 1,400 square mile area in the northernmost tip of the Gulf of California. The gulf is also known as the Sea of Cortez, and is a strip of sea between mainland Mexico and the Baja California peninsula; an aqua oasis juxtaposed between lifeless deserts. The locals in this region rely on one career over any other: fishing. The Sea of Cortez abounds with fish and shrimp, and the area’s residents capitalize on this resource. There is a problem, however. The cheapest and easiest way to catch fish and shrimp is with drift gillnets, nearly invisible fishing nets that are extremely efficient at catching everything that swims their way. Everything, including the vaquita. The vaquita has been declining for as long as the species has been known to science, and the primary reason for this decline is accidental entanglement in gillnets, known as bycatch. The vaquita is not the target catch for the fishermen, it is simply collateral damage in the race to catch as much seafood as possible. Originally, most vaquita bycatch occurred when people were fishing for the totoaba, an enormous fish in the drum family. The totoaba is endangered in its own right, so this fishing was soon outlawed. However, in the past few years, the illegal demand for totoaba has skyrocketed again, causing a sharp decline in both species. In China, the swim bladder organ of the totoaba is regarded as a symbol of wealth, and is also believed to have medicinal properties. A single totoaba swim bladder can fetch thousands of U.S. dollars on the black market, which is too good to resist for the Mexican fishermen.
A vaquita slips through the surface.
nice blog job well done,how long did it take to make the blog?
It took a few weeks to really get going, but it has been years of tweaking to get it where it is now.
Federal Prosecutors are following up on the illegal totoaba fishing issues, which as we all know is directly related to Vaquita mortality.
Thank you for sharing this very interesting story! I hope this will end up as a positive for the Vaquita.
Thanks! Vaquita are extremely unique, and they deserve all the protection in the world!
Thank you SO very much for publishing this site and advocating for the vaquita.
I would like to thank you for this blog and for your devotion to this wonderful animal in desperate need of our help. You fill me with hope that with youth like you our planet is truly in good hands. Are you really only 11 years old? Not only are you a bright scientist, but also a gifted writer and poet. I sincerely look forward to reading your poems every Thursday. Thank you and keep up the excellent work!
Thank you so much for your kind words Mr. Wayne! I really appreciate you checking out my blog and, yes, I am 11 😉 I hope to persuade, inform, and entertain you with my future poems! Thanks, Goldenliontamarin.
Thanks! I appreciate you taking the time to check out my blog! If you want, you can click the follow button and receive all new posts by email.
I really enjoy your vaquita blog and am glad that you are reaching out to the Eastern U.S. Thank you for bringing the plight of this little endangered porpoise to the attention of many who are unaware of its existence. Viva Vaquita!
Thanks! It is really cool that someone from the ACSMBC heard about my blog! Thank you for all of the nice things you said, and I would appreciate it extremely if you notified some of your fellow marine biologists about the blog!