MEXICO CITY (AP) – The Mexican government said on Saturday that it is considering reducing the conservation area for the vaquita marina in the upper Gulf of California, a clear recognition that the small porpoise may never return to its entire historic range.
The move would cut off the area where gillnets are prohibited to protect the world’s most endangered marine mammal and smallest porpoise. Only 10 vaquita can remain in the Gulf, also known as the Sea of Cortez, the only place in the world where the elusive harbor porpoise lives.
Mexico’s environmental agency said on Saturday that the decline in the number of vaquitas and the area where they have been seen in recent years warrants a reduction in the conservation zone, which currently covers most of the upper Gulf. The zone starts around the Colorado River Delta and stretches south past the fishing village of San Felipe and near Puerto Peñasco.
“The possibility of changing the area of gillnet bans is under investigation,” the department said in a statement. “There have been enough technical studies to indicate a possible area reduction, according to the recent spread of vaquita marina in the area.”
It said the change would be submitted to a group consisting of fishermen, the public and authorities for discussion, and said formal proposals could be presented until March 26.
The net ban has angered fishermen, who often place illegal nets to catch another endangered species, totaba. Vaquitas are often caught in nets set up for totoaba, whose swim bladder is considered a delicacy in China and has prices of thousands of dollars per kilogram.
The fishermen have held angry protests and attacked boats belonging to the environmental activist group Sea Shepherd, which is removing illegal nets in the smaller area where vaquitas have been sighted in recent years.
Alex Olivera, the Mexican representative of the Center for Biological Diversity, said the reduction may affect the admittedly small population of vaquitas that remains.
“Reducing the zone also means cutting off the area available for the vaquita marina, and this species, of course, does not live in a coral, but lives in the marine environment, so that once it leaves the zone, it can face it. be with gill nets. , which are a threat, ”said Olivera.