Mexico City (AP) – The Mexican government said on Saturday it was considering reducing the protection area for the vaquita marina in the Upper Gulf of California, an apparent admission that the little porpoise can never return to its entire historic habitat.
This move would reduce the area where gillnets are prohibited to protect the world’s most endangered marine mammal and the smallest porpoise. Some 10 vaquitas can remain in the Gulf, also known as the Great Cortez, the only place in the world where the pious porch lives.
Mexico’s environment department said on Saturday that the decline in the number of vaquitas and the area in which they have been seen in recent years justifies the reduction of the protection zone, which currently covers most of the Upper Gulf. The area starts around the Colorado River Delta and stretches south, passing through the fishing town of San Felipe and near Puerto Peñasco.
“The possibility of changing the net ban area is being studied,” the department said in a statement. “There have been sufficient technical studies to indicate a possible reduction in the area, depending on the recent distribution of the vaquita marina in the area.”
He said the change would be discussed by a group that includes fishermen, the public and authorities, and said formal proposals could be submitted by March 26.
The ban on the net annoyed fishermen, who frequently set up illegal nets to catch totoaba, another endangered species. Vaquitas are often caught in nets for the totoaba, whose swimming bladder is considered a delicacy in China and commands prices of thousands of dollars per kilogram.
Fishermen staged furious protests and attacked the boats of the environmental group Sea Shepherd, which are removing illegal nets in the smaller area where vaquitas have been seen in recent years.
Alex Olivera, Mexico’s representative for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the reduction could affect the small remaining vaquitas population.
“Reducing the area also means cutting the area available for the vaquita marina and, of course, this species does not live in a coral, it lives in the marine environment, so as soon as it leaves the area, it could face nets. gill. , which is a threat, “said Olivera.