Vaquita.tv

Mexico’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMERNAT) have announced the results from the Expedition Vaquita research cruise in 2008.

Researchers from NOAA Fisheries Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla California, and Insitituto Nacional de Ecologia in Mexico estimate the current population to be 250 animals.

The aim of Expedition Vaquita was to provide a more concise abundance estimate for the population. For more information about the scientific methods behind it, watch this video:

Watch more videos from the documentary – “Vaquita – The Search for the Desert Porpoise”.

The following is the excerpt from SEMERNAT:

THE SEMARNAT PRESENTED MONITORING RESULTS ON MARINE VAQUITA TO THE IWC
The Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), through its representative before the International Whaling Commission, Lorenzo Rojas, presented the results of the Vaquita Acoustic Monitoring Cruise in the Upper Gulf California, which took place from September to November of 2008, to the scientific committee of the IWC.

The investigation indicates that the population of the vaquita is of approximately 250 individuals, when in 2007 the population estimate was of 150 animals, which does not mean that the population has increased from one year to the next, but that the 2008 estimate was done with a more precise method, designed especially to assess its abundance.

The Semarnat restates that to avoid the extinction of the species it is essential to eliminate the incidental mortality in its totality, as it has been recommended by specialized scientific organizations, including the IWC.

In this sense, Semarnat implements since the end of 2007, the Vaquita Conservation Action Program (PACE-Vaquita), that has managed to diminish significantly the number of fishing nets in the Upper Gulf of California. The final goal of PACE-Vaquita is to eliminate the incidental mortality of this species by means of offering socio-economic alternatives and alternative fishing gear, friendly to the vaquita, to the fishermen communities in the Upper Gulf of California.

The Monitoring was responsibility of researchers from the National Institute of Ecology, and the Southwest Fisheries Science Center of the United States (SWFSC-NOAA), who combined visual and acoustic techniques, as well as analytical methods of recent development to estimate the abundance of this specie of marine mammal, the most endangered in the world and endemic of this area.

A filmmaker, photographer and digital producer based in Melbourne Australia.

Chris Johnson

View all posts by Chris Johnson
Chriss website

Tags: 250, Expedition Vaquita, Lorenzo Rojas Bracho, Science, Vaquita