Critically Endangered

January was a month marked by the violent action of illegal fishermen directed toward people engaged in net removal efforts. Press releases including video of the attacks are available here for the January 9th attack and here for the January 31st attack. Men in multiple...

December marks the beginning of totoaba spawning season.  As was done in the 2017/2018 spawning season, vaquita updates will be posted monthly.  In this first update, a recap of last season is given to provide context. The 2017/2018 totoaba spawning season had 400 active totoaba nets...

Although efforts to remove lethal gillnets from the vaquita’s habitat will continue, the totoaba spawning season is now past.  With fewer than 30 vaquitas remaining and the idea of rescuing some by capturing them and placing them in a protected enclosure not considered viable at...

In several separate enforcement actions, over 800 totoaba swim bladders were seized in April 2018 (see news article).  An in-depth television news story on the illegal totoaba fishery and enforcement efforts was also released (available in Spanish here). On 12 April, shots were fired at the...

On March 27 the Mexican Navy recovered a decomposed vaquita. A necropsy was conducted on April 4 and it was confirmed that the animal died from entanglement (see Necropsy Report). The net removal effort continues [caption id="attachment_2800" align="alignright" width="300"] Bags of net and anchors being taken from...