The Race to Save the Vaquita Porpoise From Extinction

The long-running global struggle to prevent extinction of the world’s most endangered marine mammal claimed its first human life here on Jan. 2, in the conflict between illegal fishing and conservation of the vaquita porpoise.

Fisherman Mario Garcia Toledo, 56, died after suffering massive injuries when his skiff collided with a vessel of the international marine-life watchdog Sea Shepherd while the latter was combing clandestine nets from the waters of the no-catch zone in the Vaquita Refuge of the Upper Golf of California.

The tragedy, under investigation by the Mexican Navy, threw into sharp relief the demand for measures to quell the piracy and lawlessness that have reduced the vaquita (Phocoena sinus) population from 567 in 1997 to no more than 20 today.

The chart for that is no simple formula, requiring not only the fresh tack being taken by the administration of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, but also a change in strategy by non-governmental organizations.

To obtain buy-in from the region’s desperate fishing communities, enabling them to become a bulwark against organized crime, government must get on board the effort to effectively enforce internationally mandated marine conservation measures.

At the same time, organized civil society must nurture cooperation between authorities and community members for mutually acceptable catch techniques or alternative income opportunities in the realm of fair trade.


https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/02/23/the-race-to-save-the-vaquita-porpoise-from-extinction/