Wednesday, July 2, 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.
people releasing fish in shallow water

Environment Ministry releases 40,000 baby totoaba into the Gulf of California

0
The Environment Ministry, working with the private sector and civil society, has been conducting a repopulation project that included the recent release of 40,000 hatchlings.
crematorium in Ciudad Juárez

2 arrests made after 383 bodies found piled up at Ciudad Juárez crematorium

0
The crematorium, which had the permits to operate, was housing corpses for as long as five years and reportedly gave relatives of the deceased "other material" in place of ashes.
a person registering their fingerprints

Senate grants Security Ministry broad data access powers, sparking ‘police state’ fears

8
The federal government argues that the National Investigation and Intelligence System Law, popularly referred to as the "Spy Law," is required to bolster the state's capacity to combat organized crime.