The International Whaling Commission (IWC) announced on Monday that it has issued an extinction warning for the endangered vaquita porpoise, whose population is estimated to be less than a dozen. This is the IWC’s first extinction warning.
The critically endangered vaquita, the world’s smallest porpoise native to Mexico’s Gulf of California, is under threat from illegal gill net fishing for the totoaba, a rare fish whose bladder is highly valued in Asia.
Mexico’s government has been pressed to put a stop to the practice.
In a report, the IWC’s scientific committee noted an 83% reduction in the vaquita population between 2015 and 2018, reaching only nine or ten of the marine animals in total.
The IWC issued the alert because it believes a new mechanism is required “to voice extinction concerns for an increasing range of cetacean species and populations.”
However, the institution believes that comprehensive enforcement of the prohibition on gill netting in the vaquita’s main habitat could provide the species “a chance of recovery.”
“The extinction of the vaquita is inevitable unless 100% of gillnets are substituted immediately with alternative fishing gears that protect the vaquita and the livelihoods of fishers,” it said.
The US Interior Secretary claimed in May that Mexico had failed to curb the illegal wildlife trade that was endangering the vaquita, but a trade embargo was ruled out by the US government in July.