The Race to Save Our Ocean’s Rarest Marine Mammal

Sadly, the vaquita is most well known for being the most critically endangered sea mammal on the planet. These members of the porpoise family glide through the waters of the Sea of Cortez which is at the north end of the Gulf of California bordering Mexico. Astonishingly, scientists believe that all the vaquitas on Earth live within a mere 2,235 kilometre square patch of ocean, although relatively little is known about these elusive creatures which were not discovered until 1958. Just over half a decade since their discovery, these marine mammals are already on the brink of extinction, with less than 10 individuals thought to remain in the sea.

In Spanish, vaquita means ‘small cow’ whilst porpoise derives from the Latin for ‘fish pig’. As most members of the porpoise family make noises resembling pig snorts, vaquitas have been affectionately called ‘puffing pigs’ in the past. The vaquita is actually the smallest of all our ocean’s cetaceans and is less than 5 foot long. They have chunky grey bodies with darker rings around their eyes which give them a look which is not dissimilar to a panda whilst dark lines around their mouth give the impression that they are smiling. However, the vaquita does not have too much to smile about as their population has declined by a shocking 90% in the last 10 years due to fishing conflicts in the Gulf of California.

Totoaba is a fish which shares the same patch of ocean as the vaquita and has been fished by locals since the 1960s for food. It wasn’t until a little later in the 20th century that the Chinese became interested in these large fish. The swim bladder is an organ which helps the totoaba stay buoyant in the water, however the Chinese believe, although unproven, that it has exceptional medicinal properties. These organs are still incredibly sought after today, with a 10 year old dried swim bladder fetching up to £60,000 per kilo in China. Due to increased demand, the totoaba was listed as an endangered species in 1979 but continues to be fished illegally today. Whilst local fishermen don’t receive anywhere near the full selling price of the swim bladders, they do receive a significant income compared to the other few employment opportunities in the local area, making illegal fishing increasingly appealing.

During the totoaba season from November to May, fishermen head out into the Gulf every day to collect their illegal catch from gillnets, a type of highly destructive fishing net which is banned within Mexico. Gillnets are often 10 metres high whilst stretching on endlessly for 600 metres, or the length of 5 and a half football pitches. For this reason, gillnets have been given the dark nickname of ‘walls of death’ as they often capture and entrap every living being in their path, including the vulnerable vaquita. Gillnets have various size mesh but it is the totoaba nets with the larger mesh which pose the biggest issue to the vaquita which is a similar size to the sought after fish. Once entangled in the nets, these small porpoises struggle to free themselves and often suffocate as they cannot get to the surface of the sea to inhale oxygen.

In order to protect the vaquita, a 1,800 kilometre square protection refuge zone has been created in the ocean where commercial fishing is banned. There is also a small section of the reserve where fishing is completely banned altogether, however these rules, along with the ban on gillnets, are mostly ignored. Museo de la Ballena is a local NGO which is working hard in the area to swap gillnets for less destructive alternatives whilst also trying to convince fishermen of other, more sustainable, livelihoods such as oyster cultivation. The international NGO Sea Shepherd also worked in the area and within five years they removed 1,200 nets from the ocean whilst confronting illegal fishing vessels.

However, the issue of saving the vaquita is not only an environmental endeavour but a problem which requires tackling organised crime, traffickers and the black market. Conserving the vaquita for generations to come doesn’t just involve scientists and the local community but also Chinese traffickers and Mexican cartels who are heavily involved in the totoaba trade. For both the traffickers and the cartels, the totoaba equals big money and the vaquita is simply something standing in the way of them reaping in profits. The conflict between all these groups came to a head at the beginning of 2021 when an NGO’s ship and a small fishing vessel collided, killing one fisherman and injuring another. This led to riots in the local harbour town of San Felipe where NGOs’ boats were attacked whilst a naval boat was set alight. Some local fishermen tried to persuade rioters that workers from the conservation charities were not the enemy but the community remains divided. Often, the expensive gillnets needed to catch totoaba are provided to locals by traffickers, leaving fishermen in debt and reliant on exploiting the ocean. With few other income opportunities, many locals have been forced to join those operating in the illegal trade. One individual working in the area says that whilst fishermen used to be wary of the winds, tides and waves, they are now keeping an eye out for armed vessels and flying bullets. With violence increasing in the area, few charities remain operating in the Gulf whilst the government are left trying to find a solution which pleases all parties.

Potential policies which are being considered involve lifting the totoabas’ endangered status or legalising the fishing which is already taking place in the refuge as it is believed the reserve is too large and is preventing local people accessing their local ocean and locking away resources. Meanwhile, other countries are also taking a stand to reduce the illegal swim bladder trade and help save the vaquita. America has banned the importation of seafood from the Gulf of California whilst China’s custom officials have confiscated $26 million worth of totoaba which almost instantly crashed the market in Mexico. Traffickers and cartels are still finding ways around the law however and even scientists’ best efforts to protect the vaquita have faced setbacks.

In 2017, the US Navy decided to redeploy some of their aquatic employees by retraining dolphins whose job was to locate missing scuba divers. It was hoped that the dolphins could be trained to find vaquita and herd them towards safe marine refuges where they would be kept until the dangers of fishing in the Gulf had been resolved. Sadly however, only two vaquitas were captured; one was a juvenile which was soon released and the other was a female of reproductive age which showed signs of stress and was also released but died shortly after. The project was immediately halted and has not recommenced. Traffickers continue to hinder conservation efforts however, as acoustic monitoring devices which are used to locate and track vaquita have been stolen from the ocean as they believe scientists are to blame for the restrictions on fishing totoaba.

With less than 10 individuals left in the wild, 2021 has been marked as the year in which we will save or lose the vaquita. It seems that this is a political and criminal issue as well as an environmental one, calling for experts from very different realms to come together to protect our marine species. Scientists believe that vaquitas have survived in a small population for around 250,000 years. With many species, the gene pool in small populations is weak and leaves them susceptible to disease and infertility, however it seems the gene pool of the remaining vaquita is healthy, with a new calf born every year. This gives us great hope that these charming porpoises can recover if we give them the space and peace they need. Extinction often sounds like a battle we will have to face in the future but it’s a war that conservationists are fighting right now to save Earth’s unique species. It seems that common conservation methods such as gear bans and protected areas aren’t working in this situation; do we need a completely new and revolutionary conservation plan? If you want to find out more, the National Geographic have created a documentary called ‘Sea of Shadows’ which documents our struggle to save the last vaquita.

By Neve McCracken-Heywood