Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Breeding program releases 40,000 young totoaba in Sea of Cortés

As the number of vaquita porpoises declines in the Sea of Cortés, could the totoaba, another endemic and threatened species from that part of Mexico, be on the road to recovery?

More than 40,000 young totoaba were released in the Sea of Cortés this week at Santispac beach in the municipality of Mulegé. It was the fourth recorded release since 2015, but the La Paz-based non-governmental organization Earth Ocean Farms has been successfully breeding the fish species in captivity since 2013.

The organization is collaborating with the Environment and Natural Resources Secretariat (Semarnat), the National Aquaculture and Fisheries Commission (Conapesca) and the government of Baja California state on a totoaba breeding and release program.

Conapesca chief Mario Aguilar said that totoaba repopulation is part of a plan whose goal is the full recovery of the vaquita porpoise and finding alternatives for commercial fishermen in the upper Sea of Cortés.

Semarnat chief Rafael Pacchiano explained that the release was part of a 2018 strategy to recover totoaba and vaquita populations.

“What we’re after is to control the illegal trafficking of totoaba through its sustainable exploitation, helping the towns of the upper Sea of Cortés,” he said.

The breeding in captivity of the species is to be extended to include the fishing towns of San Felipe in Baja California Sur and Santa Clara, Sonora. Pacchiano announced in February that Semarnat would set up three fish farms and provide them with a total of 300,000 totoaba offspring.

The project also includes the training of local fishermen in the breeding of the fish.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
collection center for donations

Here’s how you can help victims of flooding in central Mexico

1
The recent heavy rains in central Mexico left countless victims homeless and in need of supplies. Collection centers have been set up to receive donations of food, clothing and medicine.
a monarch butterfly rests on a flower

Northern states welcome first waves of migrating monarchs

2
Pollinator gardens and wildlife watering stations have been established in the Tamaulipas municipality of Gómez Farías and the nearby El Cielo Biosphere Ecological Park, a UNESCO-recognized area prized for its biodiversity and ecotourism.
DHS agents

DHS: Mexican cartels offering bounties of up to US $50,000 for attacks on US federal agents

34
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a statement on Tuesday claiming that Mexican criminal networks "have issued explicit instructions to U.S.-based sympathetics, including street gangs in Chicago, to monitor, harass and assassinate federal agents."
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity