The rarest of marine mammals: the vaquita, a species of porpoise. Photo source: Here & Now – Barbara Taylor / NOAA
Excerpts;
“The vaquita marina is the world’s smallest and most endangered porpoise. They are only found in the northern part of the Gulf of California, a narrow body of water 100 miles south of the U.S. border with Mexico. There are fewer than 30 vaquitas left in the world, mainly due to heavy fishing in the area. Although the vaquita is not the target of Mexican fishermen, it is frequently captured during gillnet fishing. Like all mammals, vaquitas breathe air. Therefore, when they become entangled in a gillnet, they are unable to surface for air and eventually drown. Fishermen catching shrimp and other seafood have caused a 95 percent population decline in the past 20 years. If current levels of gillnet fishing continue in the upper Gulf of California, the vaquita will likely be extinct by 2021…”—NRDC
Read Full Article and Learn More; NRDC (07-06-2018)
Fish Poachers Push Endangered Porpoises to Brink, Yale E360 (03-05-2016)
China’s lucrative black market for fish parts is threatening the vaquita, the world’s most endangered marine mammal. The porpoises, who live only in the Gulf of California, are getting caught up as bycatch in illegal gill nets and killed. Scientists fear the porpoise could vanish by 2018…
