Mexico receives warnings in an attempt to save the “pandas of the sea”

Mexico is urged by environmentalists to take urgent measures to protect the world’s most endangered marine mammal. The WWF is calling for international institutions to get involved and pressure Mexico into enforcing the gillnets ban. 

The WWF states that only 30 or fewer individuals of vaquitas still exists making these creatures, called the “pandas of the sea”, the world’s most endangered mammal. Their decline in numbers have been largely caused by the fishing industry, especially by the use of gillnets and Mexican waters have become the last refuge of these elusive creatures.

But while the Mexican government has taken some steps towards protecting the current shrinking vaquita population, according to the WWF, there was no effective enforcement of the temporary gillnet ban.

The new WWF report shows that if current problems are not addressed effectively, by the next Mexican presidential election, vaquitas will go extinct. The environmentalists are asking the government to immediately implement a permanent ban on gillnets and remove and destroy ghost nets, to prevent bycatch of the vaquita and other marine species.

The Mexican government should also stop illegal fishing and strengthen relevant laws and regulations to facilitate enforcement.

In order to drive up population numbers, there has to be a commitment from the government to implement a robust plan for the recovery of the vaquita within its natural habitat that includes specific population increases and timelines.

URGENT! Temporary ban on gillnets which threaten vaquita extinction ends May 31. Act now to #savethevaquita https://t.co/vrqrvQkFw0 pic.twitter.com/Kh9pon6hpi

— WWF (@WWF) May 17, 2017

But the Mexican authorities are not the only ones that should react. Action is needed on the part of American and Chinese authorities especially since the fishing of another endangered species, has been causing the most harm to the “pandas of the sea”. Totoaba are fished especially for their swim bladders which constitute a delicacy.

China and the United States should increase enforcement efforts to intercept and halt the illegal transport, entry and sale of totoaba products.

International institutions, non-profit organisations and the civil society should hold Mexico, China and the United States responsible for the extinction of the vaquitas, the WWF argues.

Vaquitas populate the Gulf of California which was officially listed as a World Heritage site in 2005. Vaquitas are the world’s smallest cetaceans, a species that includes dolphins and whales.

The vaquita population has fallen by 90 per cent since 2011 due to gillnet fishing and without action, including short-term and long-term measures, the WWF says that extinction is imminent.