Thursday, April 3, 2025

Expedition finds healthy vaquita porpoise specimens and two calves

An expedition to investigate the dwindling vaquita porpoise population sighted three different groups of the mammals — including calves, raising hopes about its future.

There were estimates last year that only 30 specimens of vaquita remained in the wild, but the monitoring conducted between September 24 and October 4 in the Upper Gulf of California gave specialists clear evidence that the species continues to reproduce.

Between seven and 10 vaquita specimens were seen at three different times, and all were in excellent health.

A female vaquita and its calf were sighted on September 25 and two days later two adult vaquitas were seen. A group of four to six animals, including a calf, was sighted the following day.

The information gathered during the 10-day expedition led specialists to hypothesize that the porpoise might reproduce every year instead of every second year as was previously thought.

So far all the vaquita deaths recorded have been caused by fishing. Eliminating the fishing nets would guarantee the vaquita’s recovery, according to Diego Ruíz Sabio, director of the La Paz Whale Museum.

He and Armando Jaramillo Legorreta of the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change agree that the illegal fishing of totoaba, in which organized crime is involved, has withstood official efforts to stop it.

They said now is a good time to prohibit fishing vessels from the vaquita’s habitat because the totoaba fishing season is about to begin.

The Mexico chapter of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said yesterday it will continue working with local fishing communities to remove abandoned or lost gillnets in which the vaquitas get trapped and drown, and in designing alternative fishing techniques, tasks also undertaken by the La Paz Whale Museum.

Source: El FinancieroAnimal Político (sp)

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum stands at the presidential podium looking out at an audience off-camera with her fist raised and her mouth open as if cheering. Behind her is a wall with the words in Spanish: Plan Mexico, Strenghtening the Economy and Well-Being, Mexico City April 3, 2025.

Sheinbaum unveils an even more ambitious version of her transformative Plan México

2
Sheinbaum said the projects she announced as part of Plan México will bring about more well-paid employment, less poverty and inequality, greater investment and production and more innovation.
A clear-cut strip of land cuts through the jungle along the Maya Train route in Yucatán

Government promises restoration plan for Maya Train environmental damage

0
Government officials said the track's builders will be responsible for funding a restoration effort that includes reforestation and improving natural migration corridors.
Cans of Cororna Extra beer lying on a bed of large ice cubes

Trump announces new US tariffs on Mexican… beer

15
Mexico didn't end up on Donald Trump's "liberation day" list of enemy countries, although the U.S. did impose tariffs on a surprising Mexican item: beer in cans.