MEXICO CITY (AP) – The Mexican government said on Saturday that it is considering reducing the protected area of the vaquita marina in the upper Gulf of California, an apparent admission that the tiny porpoise may never return to the entire historic extent of its habitat.
The measure would cut the area where gillnets are banned to protect the world’s most threatened marine mammal and smallest dolphin. Only 10 vaquita can remain in the Gulf, also known as Mar de Cortez, the only place in the world where the elusive boto lives.
The Mexico Department of Environment said on Saturday that the drop in the number of vaquitas and the area where they have been seen in recent years justifies the reduction of the protection zone, which currently covers most of the upper Gulf. The area begins around the Colorado River Delta and extends to the south, passing through the fishing town of San Felipe and close to Puerto Peñasco.
“The possibility of modifying the gillnet ban area is being studied,” the department said in a statement. “There are already enough technical studies to indicate a possible reduction in the area, according to the recent distribution of the marina in the area.”
The change will be subject to discussion by a group of fishermen, the public and authorities, and that formal proposals may be submitted by March 26.
The ban on nets has angered fishermen, who often set up illegal nets to catch totoaba, another species threatened with extinction. Vaquitas are usually caught in nets prepared for totoaba, whose swimming bladder is considered a delicacy in China and costs thousands of dollars a kilo.
Fishermen made furious protests and attacked boats by the environmental group Sea Shepherd, which removes illegal nets in the small area where vaquitas have been spotted in recent years.
Alex Olivera, Mexican representative for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the reduction could affect the admittedly small population of vaquitas that still remains.
“Reducing the area also means cutting the area available for the marina of the vaquita, 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 can face the nets, which are a threat,” he said. Olivera.