Observers Say Mexico Is Not Enforcing a Gillnet Ban Meant to Save Vaquitas Bob Berwyn - Citizens Voice
go to original July 26, 2015

Despite a ban that started April 10, some Mexican fishermen are still using gillnets in the northern Gulf of Mexico to the detriment of critically endangered endemic porpoises. (Greenpeace)

Conservation advocates say some Mexican fishermen are ignoring a ban on gillnets in the northern Gulf of California, driving a porpoise species even closer to extinction.

Biologists say there are less than 100 vaquitas left in the area, and perhaps as few as 50, and despite Mexico’s stated intention to enforce the gillnet ban, Greenpeace observers reported last week that the now-illegal nets are still being widely used.

Mexico President Enrique Peña Nieto created a marine reserve and banned gillnet fishing back in April, but Greenpeace says there’s not nearly enough enforcement, and not enough of an effort has been made to help fishermen in the region transition away from gillnet fishing.

Vaquitas are endemic to the northern Gulf of Mexico, and they’re being caught in nets used to capture another endangered species called the totoaba. The totoaba’s swim bladders are dried and shipped to China, where they are prized for supposed medicinal qualities and sold for thousand of dollars on the black market.

“Forbidden gillnets are all over the the bay and the direct result is that more vaquitas are in danger … not less as we had been led to believe,” said Silvia Diaz, a Greenpeace campaign manager in Mexico. Diaz said it’s not clear exactly how many fishing boats are still using the illegal nets, but observers have seen dozens of them.

Read the rest at Citizens Voice

Sea Shepherd captures rare footage of elusive Vaquita during first sighting since 2013 (Sea Shepherd Conservation Society)

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