In a last-ditch attempt to save a critically endangered porpoise, Mexican officials began dropping weighted metal hooks in the Gulf of California in July. The goal is to snag illegal gill nets, thereby discouraging and thwarting the fishing practice that is largely responsible for winnowing the population of vaquitas to just eight individuals.
鈥淲ith so few vaquitas remaining on the planet, we are not in a position to make any mistakes,鈥� says at the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit conservation organisation based in Arizona.
The status of the vaquita (Phocoena sinus) is dire, and something must be done to limit the fishing practices that threaten the last of this species. But some see this project, overseen by the Mexican Navy, as a poorly tested stunt. Unless removed promptly, any snagged and abandoned gill nets could continue to trap sea life and degrade into plastic pollution, harming the habitat and potentially the very porpoises they鈥檙e intended to save.
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The Mexican Navy has offered few details about if and how the hooks will be monitored and cleared of snagged nets. It did not respond to 快猫短视频鈥檚 request for comment.
The 193 hooks, weighted by concrete blocks, were dropped into a protected stretch of vaquita habitat off the coast of San Felipe, where fishing is prohibited. But because of limited law enforcement, gillnetting occurs regularly. The practice, which uses large, vertical walls of mesh to ensnare fish, is driven primarily by an overseas black market for the swim bladders of totoabas (罢辞迟辞补产补听尘补肠诲辞苍补濒诲颈), an endangered fish. Totoabas are similar in size to the metre-and-a-half-long vaquitas, which means the mesh of the gill nets is the perfect size for trapping 鈥� and drowning 鈥� the porpoises.
鈥淚 would have liked to see a pilot project before they started, or at least do these by stages so we can assess how the vaquita would behave,鈥� says at Ocean Wise in Canada. Rojas-Bracho says all 193 blocks have been in the water for nearly two months but there have been no official updates on the project鈥檚 success. He says he has heard anecdotal reports of fishing vessels still active in the area, however.
Instead of experimenting with weighted hooks to catch illegal gill nets, Olivera says the government needs to ratchet up surveillance, enforce fishing bans and create alternative economic opportunities for locals.
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