IUCN – SSC Cetacean Specialist Group

ACTIONS TAKEN BY GOVERNMENT OF MEXICO REMAIN INSUFFICIENT TO SAVE THE VAQUITA

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31 Jan 2025

ACTIONS TAKEN BY GOVERNMENT OF MEXICO REMAIN INSUFFICIENT TO SAVE THE VAQUITA

 

By: Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho and Barbara Taylor

 

On 3–8 February 2o25 the 78th meeting of the CITES Standing Committee will consider Mexico’s September 2024 Progress and Results Report on its Compliance Action Plan to Prevent Fishing for and Illegal Trade in Totoaba, their Parts and/or Derivatives, to Protect the Vaquita (E-SC78-12-01-A8). In both 2023 and 2025 the CITES Secretariat gave high marks to Mexico (SC78 Doc. 33.12.1 Annex 9) for its implementation of many of the actions described in the CAP. However, a detailed analysis in 2023 by Rojas-Bracho and Taylor found that Mexico’s Progress and Results Report could mislead CITES Standing Committee members (and others) about the extent and effectiveness of conservation actions.

 

The new administration in Mexico has just begun its term and, unlike previous administrations, has already engaged on vaquita issues.  The updated report by the past administration which will be considered at this year’s CITES meeting raises concerns similar to those noted two years ago.

    • Gillnets continue to be used for fishing throughout the Upper Gulf, except within the Zero Tolerance Area (ZTA, including the so-called Extension Area).  For an analysis of fishing in the Vaquita Refuge that disputes what is reported by the Mexican Government’s Report to CITES in 2025 see: https://cetact.org/library/Mexico%20has%20under-reported%20gillnetting%20in%20the%20Vaquita%20Refuge.pdf
    • No significant progress has been made in transitioning fishing communities to alternative, vaquita-safe gear.
    • Without alternative gear, fishers feel compelled to continue using gillnets. Concentrating effort and resources on enforcement rather than on enabling fishers to transition to alternative methods will perpetuate a cycle where illegal fishing with entangling gear is nearly impossible to eliminate.
    • Devoting all compliance and enforcement effort solely to the ZTA will not enable the vaquita population recover or ensure that the totoaba fishery is sustainable.

 

Expansion of compliance and enforcement beyond the ZTA has taken on new importance because fewer vaquitas were observed within the ZTA in the 2024 survey (read the full report here in English and here in Spanish plus the Appendices here in English only) while acoustic monitoring outside the ZTA (acoustic report here in English and here in Spanish) detected vaquitas in areas that, although within the Vaquita Refuge, are not yet protected by concrete blocks with hooks to prevent the setting of gillnets.

 

Two recent publications urge that more funding be devoted to research on the ecological aspects of vaquita habitat on the premise that species recovery may not be possible even if the gillnets that kill vaquitas are removed. Rodríguez-Pérez et al. (2024) and Arreguín-Sánchez et al. (2025) argue that habitat changes in the Upper Gulf of California resulting from the damming of the Colorado River have sealed the fate of the vaquita.  Because these papers could influence the thinking of CITES Standing Committee members, we prepared a document to set the record straight: there is no evidence that vaquitas are nutritionally stressed.

 

In 2023, the Cetacean Specialist Group sent a letter to the CITES Secretariat expressing concern and supporting the analysis by Rojas-Bracho and Taylor of Mexico’s implementation of its Compliance Action Plan. That letter and analysis are available here. A new letter sent to the Secretariat is available here.

 

REFERENCES

Arreguín-Sánchez F, Zetina-Rejo n MJ, Vergara-Solana FJ, Del Monte-Luna P, Rodríguez-Fuentes M, Arreguín-Rodríguez GJ, Medina-Contreras D and Sánchez-Velasco L, (2025) State of knowledge of the population of the vaquita (Phocoena sinus) from the Upper Gulf of California: a bibliometric analysis. Front. Conserv. Sci. 5:1480035. doi: 10.3389/fcosc.2024.1480035

Rodríguez-Pérez M-Y, Sánchez-Velasco L, Rosas-Hernández M-P, Hernández-Camacho CJ, Cervantes FA, Gallo-Reynoso JP, Arreguín-Sánchez F and Godínez VM. 2024. Stable isotopes of carbon (d13C) and oxygen (d18O) from vaquita (Phocoena sinus) bones as indicators of habitat use in the Upper Gulf of California. Front. Conserv. Sci. 5:1490262. doi: 10.3389/fcosc.2024.1490262

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