New rules may help world’s rarest porpoise, Vaquita, avoid extinction

Mexican government approves selective fishing gear to reduce Vaquita bycatch

July 2013. On the 6th June 2013 the Government of Mexico took an important step towards saving the vaquita, the world's smallest and rarest cetacean. 

The Mexican Government has adopted important modifications to their fishing rules which will require the progressive substitution of shrimp drift gillnets, one of the main fishing gears in which vaquitas die incidentally, with more selective gear that does not kill porpoises. The Mexican government ordered a three-year, gradual substitution of drift gillnets for the new selective net (30% the first year, 30% the second and 40% the third).

Turtle excluder

The new net, known as the RS.INP.MX (acronym for "Selective Net of the National Fisheries Institute-Mexico") is a small driftnet adapted for use with small vessels (6 metre fibre glass "pangas" with four-stroke gasoline outboard engines) that has a number of features that make it more selective than the gillnets, including a turtle excluder device, a "Fisheye" type fish excluder to exclude smaller-sized species and a double headline or lower line with rollers to reduce damage to the seabed. It is composed of lighter materials to reduce fuel consumption and minimize seabed damage. Mesh size decreases progressively along the net to avoid capturing non-target species. The net has hydrodynamic trawl doors to reduce resistance and increase efficiency, and its smaller dimensions mean it can be deployed from artisanal fishing vessels ("pangas").

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