On the road to Extinction

THE vaquita is endemic to Mexico’s Gulf of California. It is the world’s smallest and most endangered marine cetacean (an order of marine mammals which includes whales, dolphins and porpoises).

Also known as Cochito or Gulf porpoise, the vaquita can weigh up to 55 kgs and reach up to 1.5m in length. It closely resembles the common porpoise and has a black-lipped smile and a large, dark ring around each eye.

Gulf porpoises feed on squid, crabs, and fish. Sadly, it is estimated that only 12 of the animals remain in the wild. Drowning due to entanglement in fishing nets, alteration in habitat due to damming of the Colorado River in the US and reduction in food resources due to commercial fishing are some of the major factors contributing to the rapid decline in their population.

Fishing nets especially are seen as a major threat. Gulf porpoises need to surface to breathe and are unable to do so when they got caught in nets and hence drown. In 2017, the Mexican government banned the use of a particularly damaging type of fishing net in the habitat of the vaquita.