Vaquita porpoises, the most endangered marine mammal, go unnoticed by billions of people every day. Today, less than ten remain. None are in the wild, and numbers are set to decline further.
I was about seven when I first learned about the vaquita porpoise. It was first grade, and we had to research an endangered animal. I found the vaquita. Instantly, I loved them. I was passionate about them, and I wanted to save them with all my heart. Back then, there were thirty vaquitas left. Today, there are less than ten.
The vaquitas are the smallest marine mammal out there, and only live in the Sea of Cortez, or the Gulf of California. Their threat comes from poachers. But poachers aren't targetting the vaquita.
These poachers are after another animal, the totoaba, a protected fish who's swim bladder sells for over 100,000 USD on the black market. To catch these fish, they set up gill nets, which are banned in most of these areas, and are fatal for the vaquita.
Despite efforts by the Mexican Government, poaching is still a threat, it's just illegal. Groups like Sea Shepherd have sent boats to patrol the sea, and they monitor the poaching via drones, cut gill nets, and release anything trapped within. But even they cannot stop the destruction of the vaquita.
On December 8, 2019, over 80 of these small boats swarmed into vaquita refuge - wrote a writer of the Arizona Public Media - a protected area of water for the vaquita porpoise. Sea Shepherd's Captain Locky MacLean called it, "the most blatant act of poaching that we've seen in all our years [here]."
Part of the reason for the increase in poachers is the lack of governmental enforcement. Several years earlier, the Mexican government agreed to pay poachers not to enter vaquita habitat, however, when the government faced budget cuts, this was one of the first to go.
The issue of conserving the vaquita is so complex, it's layered with socio-economic issues, and so many possible negative impacts. Poachers are often people who suffer from poverty, or a life without much money for their family. They see catching totoaba as a form of survival, and this claim makes it hard for law enforcement on the vaquita issue to occur.
The need for money is so desperate, that poachers have shot down drones, and even at people on Sea Shepherd's boat.
The numbers for the vaquita porpoise population are now so low, it has become a matter of days before extinction occurs.
But not all hope is lost. Expeditions to check population count, run by Mexico's National Commission on Protected Areas, reported seeing vaquitas swimming with calves alongside them. There's still a chance that this endangered marine mammal could recover.