MEXICO CITY — Conservation groups said Monday that the Mexican government’s lack of action is to blame for the near-extinction of the critically endangered vaquita marina porpoise.
The groups said the National Fisheries Commission didn’t supervise fishing season rules and improperly increased catch quotas in the upper Gulf of California. They said the commission also failed to provide fishermen with better nets to avoid trapping vaquitas.
The head of the fisheries body disputed the report’s contentions.
The vaquita is the world’s smallest porpoise and is found only in the gulf, which is also known as the Sea of Cortez.
Mexico has banned most gill-net fishing in the upper gulf, but the actions appear to have been too little, too late.
Experts say there are probably fewer than 30 of the porpoises remaining. Vaquitas are often killed in nets set for totoaba fish, whose swim bladders are prized in China.
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Monday’s report by Greenpeace, the Defenders of Wildlife and others came one day after Mexico said it had reached agreements with China and the United States to combat totoaba fishing.
But the groups said the fisheries council has increased catch limits for corvina, another species frequently caught in nets that can trap vaquitas. Corvina boats may also provide cover for fishermen who illegally fish for totoaba.
The report claimed the commission had not carried out supervision of fishing bans on several protected species in the upper gulf. The report also said the council had improperly increased corvina catch limits by 86 percent between 2012 and 2017.
