The vaquita, unless decisive action is taken now, will die out within a few months.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himAt risk of extinction, and even short-term, the smallest porpoise in the world endemic to the Gulf of Mexico: of the vaquita (Phocoena sinus), in fact, only 10 specimens and it is no coincidence that it is also known as the "sea panda". All the fault of the men and poaching. By the end of 2019 maybe it won't be there anymore.
This was announced by the marine biologists of the Comité Internacional para la Recuperación de la Vaquita (CIRVA), who in a report explain that the vaquita, unless action is taken now, will die out within a few months. In fact, during the summer of 2018 they were counted no more than 22 vaquitas, that is, before the current fishing season.
Each year, half of the remaining vaquitas are killed in illegal fishing nets set to catch another endangered species, the Totoaba, which poachers fish for their swim bladders, which are dried and smuggled by Chinese organized crime. to be sold on the black market.
While Mexico banned the use of gillnets in 2017, there is actually no water surveillance program to make sure the vaquitas are safe.
This is demonstrated by the latest victim found: Sea Shepherd environmentalists have in fact communicated that they have found "a vaquita trapped in a net inside the Vaquita Sanctuary, proving that illegal gillnets are the greatest threat to this small cetacean. ".
The real target of illegal fishing is, as we said, the totoaba: the two animals are of similar size (both endemic to the upper part of the Gulf of California and both seriously threatened), so gillnets are perfect deadly traps even for vaquita.
Environmentalists recall that “recently rumors were circulating in the upper Gulf of California that gillnets were not a threat to vaquitas and other cetaceans, instigating demands on the Mexican government. Sea Shepherd has been present in the upper Gulf of California since 2015 as part of Operation Milagro. At the time, the crew documented the entanglement of 36 marine mammals in illegal gillnets. Nine of them were cetaceans and only one could be saved, a young specimen of humpback whale, in early 2016 ”.
"If we stop operating, the cow will be extinguishedSea Shepherd First Officer Jack Hutton said.
But "there is still hope - the researchers underline - the vaquitas still produce small and the remaining animals are healthy", but determined action is needed to avert their imminent extinction.
Read also:
- Red alert for the vaquita, the marine 'panda' is almost extinct (PHOTO and VIDEO)
