With fewer than 20 individuals remaining, the prospect of encountering a vaquita in the wild has become a near-mythical experience. The chances of seeing a vaquita in its natural habitat…
What efforts have been made to save the vaquita?
Since the vaquita was first described by science and shortly after declared “vulnerable” by the IUCN, numerous actions have been taken by the Mexican government to save the species. However, none of these actions have prevented the decline of the population.
A ban on gill-nets should have halted the decline, but gill-net fishing continues, with seasonal permits for a local species of fish, the corvina, and illegally for the totoaba.
What is killing the vaquita?
Vaquita face a singular, deadly threat that has pushed them to the brink: entanglement in fishing nets as bycatch. Bycatch refers to the accidental capture of non-target species in fishing…
What will happen to the ecosystem if vaquitas go extinct?
The potential extinction of the vaquita, the world’s most endangered marine mammal, raises concerns not only for the species itself but also for the broader ecosystem of the Gulf of…
Why are Dall’s porpoise hunted in Japan?
In Japan, thousands of Dall’s porpoise are killed in directed hunts every year. The animals are killed for consumption. As there are no recent abundance estimates for Dall’s porpoise in…
Why are Mexico’s efforts to save the vaquita not effective?
Mexico has tried various things to help the vaquita population recover: it declared a refuge, later stepped up its efforts and banned gill-nets throughout the vaquita’s range, sending its navy…
Why is the vaquita endangered?
The single most serious thread to the vaquita, and the cause for its rapid decline, is the use of gill-nets in the vaquita habitat.
A gill-net is a wall of netting that hangs in the water column. The mesh is designed so that fish can get their heads through, but not the rest of their bodies. As they struggle to free themselves, they get entangled with their gills. Gill-nets are very effective and used around the world, but often lead to large amounts of by-catch and pose a threat to other marine animals, such as sea turtles, seals and sea lions and cetaceans like the vaquita. If a vaquita gets entangled, it only has minutes to free itself. Most animals drown, and those that escape often do so with severe injuries.
Why is the vaquita so rare?
The vaquita, the world’s smallest and most endangered marine mammal, is a rare and elusive species found exclusively in the northern Gulf of California. With fewer than 20 individuals remaining,…
With its low numbers, can the vaquita survive despite inbreeding?
The vaquita porpoise, the world’s smallest cetacean, teeters on the brink of extinction, with fewer than 10 individuals remaining in their sole habitat in Mexico’s Gulf of California. UCLA biologists…