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12/19/2022
IT MAY BE TOO LATE TO SAVE THE ENDANGERED VAQUITA
Unless illegal fishing is eradicated in the Vaquita Refuge. the Vaquita porpoise is doomed to extinction.
This IUCN report points out - the threat to the survival of the Vaquita is the illegal use of gill nets. Mexico has banned the nets but enforcement is a joke. The poachers set their nets with impunity.
Mexico is making a show of pretending to enforce the ban but the reality is that in pursuit of the highly prized Totoaba swim bladders, a combination of greed, corruption and inaction spells very bad news for the survival of the Vaquita.
The only thing that worked was the confiscation of the illegal nets and without a doubt, if not for the removal and destruction of over 120,000 meters of nets, the Vaquita would now be extinct.
Now all that is being done, is observation and reporting infractions to the with the Mexican Navy showing little enthusiasm for the task.
I initiated Operation Milagro in 2015 and supervised it until 2019 when I was removed from that position. Shortly after my removal, Mexico stopped net confiscation.
The poachers are winning. The Vaquita are losing.
The Mexican government will be responsible for the extinction of the Vaquita unless they implement the one action that can save the Vaquita - 100% enforcement against any fishing activity in the Vaquita Refuge of the upper part of the Sea of Cortez.
Watching. the poachers and doing nothing achieves nothing.