December 2015 Vaquita Update

Members of the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita ​​(​CIRVA​)​ attending the Society for Marine Mammalogy​’s​ Biennial Conference in San Francisco took ​the opportunity​ to me​e​t briefly on ​16 December 2015. ​It was largely an informational meeting where participants received brief updates on several issues, including preliminary results of the 2015 abundance survey, the acoustic monitoring program, enforcement, and status of development and testing of alternative fishing gear. CIRVA concluded that past and current efforts to test alternative finfish gear have been inadequate, and recommended that the Government of Mexico invest more resources in gear trials and elicit the involvement of international expertise in the design and implementation of such trials. A comprehensive, transparent, full-scale gear testing program for finfish must be fully supported and implemented as soon as possible to facilitate the transition to alternative finfish gear. The final report of this meeting, called CIRVA Express, is available in English and Spanish here.