Ghost Gear Report - 19

The vaquita has been listed by
the IUCN as critically endangered
since 199670 when the population
was estimated at 567 animals.
Recent declines have been the
most dramatic, almost half of
the remaining population was
lost between 2015 and 2016.
Through acoustic monitoring
work, it has been possible to
detect the decrease in the vaquita
population, estimating an average
decrease of almost 50% of the
population annually71. Unless
this decline can be stopped by
eliminating mortality in illegal
gillnets, the vaquita will be extinct
in a few years.
While fishing in the Upper Gulf
of California, Mexico, is crucial
for the livelihoods of local
communities and, more broadly,
to Mexico, unsustainable fishing
is the biggest threat in the region,
compromising its ability to fulfill
the needs of current and future
generations living there.
Since 2008, WWF has worked
to promote sustainable and
alternative fishing with local
communities while removing
ghost gear, in the Upper Gulf
of California, aiming to reduce
as much as possible the main
threat to the vaquita. In October

2016, the Mexican government,
CIRVA and WWF-Mexico,
developed and implemented the
first ghost net removal program,
consisting in systematically
locating and removing abandoned
or illegal fishing gear within the
vaquita protection area. A core
group including international
conservation bodies, researchers,
NGOs, the Mexican government,
and local conservation-minded
fishers was formed, actively
participating in the design,
organization and execution of
the net removal program, with
the aim of removing the largest
number of discarded, lost or
abandoned fishing gear in the
UGC.
With the support of WWF-Mexico,
local communities joined the
activities, expanding the ghost
net removal program to recycle
materials and designing and
testing alternative fishing gear to
eliminate gillnets in the area.
Some vaquitas are seen rarely in
the area, but the question remains
whether the vaquita can still be
saved at this very late stage. The
case of the vaquita clearly shows
the dramatic impacts that ghost
and illegal gillnets have in driving
species to extinction, we need to
act urgently to avoid more marine
species to follow the same path.

19
Ghost Gear Report

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Ghost Gear Report
