2 hours ago by Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times
The world's rarest cetacean could disappear in less than four years unless immediate action is taken by the Mexican government to protect it from entanglement in gillnets deployed illegally in its Gulf of California refuge, federal officials said Tuesday.
Fewer than 100 critically endangered vaquitas remain in the wild, and U.S. officials and conservationists are urging Mexico to crack down on shrimp gillnetters operating within the 488-square-mile refuge created to protect the 5-foot-long, porpoise-like species.
Vaquitas are also being decimated by illegal trade of an endangered fish known as totoaba, which is supplying a demand for swim bladders in China.
"Time is running out," Rebecca Lent, executive director of the Marine Mammal Commission, an independent U.S. agency, said in an interview. "The government of Mexico has made an effort, but it has been ineffective. What we need is a firm commitment by Mexico to stop the gillnetting. Now."
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