CIRVA Archive

Updated August 2025

The vaquita is classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. It has a very restricted distribution, occurring only in the Upper Gulf of California in Mexico. The few remaining individuals appear to be concentrated in a small area near San Felipe about 24 x 12 km in size, which has been effectively protected by concrete blocks with hooks designed to entangle illegal gillnets. These anti-gillnet devices were installed by the Mexican Navy beginning in 2022. Subsequently, a joint effort by the Navy and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society confirmed that this “Zero Tolerance Area” (ZTA) is nearly free of gillnets. However, vaquitas have been acoustically detected outside the ZTA within the far larger Vaquita Refuge where gillnets remain the most commonly used fishing gear.

A critical step toward vaquita conservation was the creation by the Mexican Secretariat of Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries in 1996 of the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita (CIRVA). Initially the committee was expected to develop a recovery plan based on the best available scientific evidence. Several CSG members have participated in this recovery team from the beginning; Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho established the team and has chaired CIRVA since its inception.

CIRVA has made many recommendations over the years, among the most important being that the mortality of vaquitas in fishing gear, and especially gillnets, must be reduced to zero as soon as possible. In addition, CIRVA has repeatedly recommended that vaquita-safe alternatives to gillnetting be developed, tested, and implemented so that communities in the Upper Gulf have secure and long-term livelihoods.

Here we provide a full list of reports and related documents produced by CIRVA. All are freely available for download.

CIRVA Full Reports

• CIRVA-12. 2025. Report of the twelfth meeting of the Comité Internacional para la Recuperación de la Vaquita (CIRVA)
• CIRVA-11. 2019. Report of the eleventh meeting of the Comité Internacional para la Recuperación de la Vaquita (CIRVA)
• CIRVA-10. 2018. Report of the tenth meeting of the Comité Internacional para la Recuperación de la Vaquita (CIRVA) 
• CIRVA-9. 2017. Report of the ninth meeting of the Comité Internacional para la Recuperación de la Vaquita (CIRVA)
• CIRVA-8. 2016. Report of the eighth meeting of the Comité Internacional para la Recuperación de la Vaquita (CIRVA)
• CIRVA-7. 2016. Report of the seventh meeting of the Comité Internacional para la Recuperación de la Vaquita (CIRVA)
• CIRVA-6. 2015. Report of the sixth meeting of the Comité Internacional Para La Recuperación de la Vaquita (CIRVA) 
• CIRVA-5. 2014. Report of the fifth meeting of the Comité Internacional Para La Recuperación de la Vaquita (CIRVA) [ English version]
  • CIRVA-5. 2014. Reporte de la Quinta Reunión del Comité Internacional Para La Recuperación de la Vaquita (CIRVA) [Spanish Version]
  • CIRVA-5. 2014. Annexes 7, 8 & 9
• CIRVA-4. 2012. Report of the fourth meeting of the Comité Internacional Para La Recuperación de la Vaquita (CIRVA)
• CIRVA-3,2,1. 2004, 1999, 1997. Report of the third, second, and first meeting of the Comité Internacional Para La Recuperación de la Vaquita (CIRVA)

CIRVA Express and Ad Hoc Meeting Reports

• CIRVA. 2024. Report of the Ad Hoc Meeting of the Comité Internacional para la Recuperación de la Vaquita (CIRVA)
• CIRVA. 2017. Final Report of the Express Meeting of the Comité Internacional para la Recuperación de la Vaquita (CIRVA) – November 16
• CIRVA. 2017. Final Report of the Express Meeting of the Comité Internacional para la Recuperación de la Vaquita (CIRVA) – September 26
• CIRVA. 2015. Final Report of the Express Meeting of the Comité Internacional para la Recuperación de la Vaquita (CIRVA) [English Version]
  • CIRVA. 2015. Final Report of the Express Meeting of the Comité Internacional para la Recuperación de la Vaquita (CIRVA) [Spanish Version]