A big step towards saving the Vaquitas
On October 12,
Mexico’s government, with the support of Mexican and international experts and scientists, will begin an unprecedented effort to save the vaquita, the world’s most critically endangered marine mammal. This project, known as Vaquita CPR (Conservation, Protection, and Recovery), seeks to rescue and temporarily relocate the remaining vaquitas to an ocean sanctuary in the Upper Gulf of California, with the end goal of returning the vaquitas to their natural habitat once the primary threat to their survival – drowning in gillnets – has been eliminated.
WWF supports Vaquita CPR as a bold and necessary strategy within wider comprehensive efforts to save the vaquita, whose population has plummeted to fewer than
30 individuals.
"Rescuing these animals and placing them in a temporary sanctuary is necessary to protect them until their natural habitat can be made safe," said Dr. Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho, lead vaquita expert and chair of CIRVA. "We realize that capturing even a few vaquitas will be very difficult, but if we don't try the vaquita will disappear from the planet forever."
Source : WWF
DID YOU KNOW?
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The word vaquita is Spanish for "little cow".
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The vaquita is considered the most endangered of 129 extant marine mammal species.
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Only grows up to be 1.5m in lenght, making them the smallest member of the infraorder
Cetacea.
- It can be found only in the northern parts of the Gulf of California, in Mexico. Vaquita lives on a territory of 900 square miles, which is the smallest area occupied by a whale species.
Size compared to an average human
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