Captive Breeding for Vaquitas?

The way to fix situations like this is not to make the fishermen causing it the enemies or villains, but to work with them to make things better. It may sound hard but taking their way of life from them for some endangered animal will only anger them and cause more problems.

 

What pisses me off is that, while the decline was fast, people saw it happening. It's not like it happened over the course of a year. Hardcore action should have been taken sooner. I said before that I'd be more optimistic about the captivity program if it was done while we had 200+ vaquitas instead of 30.

 

I think we all know deep down that there is no immediate hope to restore the species safely to its former habitat at this point.

We've kind of reached the point instead where we confront the ethical question in the value of preserving a virtually already extinct species as long as possible.

 

If this story is true, that would be really great news !!! :

More vaquita porpoises remain than previously thought: Profepa

 

These are all estimates. But this last one seems more realistic. Profepa also mentioned plans to capture as many vaquitas as possible to establish the breeding group because the fishing ban in the upper gulf is very unpopular and difficult to enforce.

 

Profepa has also mentioned the possiblity of establishing a second breeding group in a US facility

 

The fishermen are the prime reason the vaquita's are disappearing. There is a real issue here with engagement, political will as well as law enforcement. That needs to be sorted too.

I do agree that a vaquita conservation breeding program in a secured part of the Gulf - meaning inside the Gulf itself and not a dolphinarium type set up - is a possibility, but it requires input of experienced dolphinaria and a set of cetacean scientists with a captive-breeding background and knowledge to make that a realistic reality.

For the species it really is 2 to 12pm, so action is now required and no longer just words - hence my observation as to political will and engagement -. The fishermen really have to start taking a backseat here in part of the Gulf if the vaquita is to be saved and really Fisheries are killing our marine resources and stocks of most commercial fish stocks globally (and not just in the Gulf, but it is true of most if not all Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Ocean areas (and the European, Russian, Japanese-Chinese waters).

 

The situation is quite complex. The fishing ban affects many families in the upper gulf of Mexico. Vaquitas do not vote,but fishermen do, and there are general elections in Mexico next year. Now Profepa plans to capture as many vaquitas as possible to move them to a protected area in the gulf and eventually establish a binational program with the US, like the mexican wolf, penisular pronghorn and california condor programs which have been so successfull. The question remains if the vaquita will ever be able to return to a natural state and when. I strongly suspect that there are already some captive vaquitas that have survived and are doing well, though this not yet public.
Here is another link Hay 100 vaquitas marinas y no 30 como se pensaba: Profepa | Sexenio

 

Interesting that you say that, there were talks of using US Navy dolphins to locate the Vaquitas. Have these plans gone ahead?

 

Yes there are at least 3 navy dolphins active in the vaquita programa now according to reports. It is likely that new population estmates of vaquitas have used the navy dolphins.

 

That would be a real asset I believe.

Estimado Carlos, I realize the issues are complex in fisheries' in general and that there is a human element in local livelihoods involved. Alas, there is no denying that overfishing, the type of netting used (gill netting) and the large trawling ship industry are the main drivers' behind depletion of marine resources, fish stocks as well as cetecean and manatee numbers globally. Some, if not most are at play in the Mexican Gulf region too.

I quote directly from the most recent IUCN Red List listing for vaquita Phocoena sinus:
QUOTE:
"Given what is known about fishing history in the northern Gulf of California and the vaquita's vulnerability to entanglement in gillnets, it is reasonable to assume that the porpoise population has been declining since the 1940s when gillnet fisheries became widespread in the region. The best estimate of total population size is from 1997: 567 (95% CI: 177, 1,073) (Jaramillo-Legorreta et al. 1999). The estimated annual level of mortality in the early 1990s for one of the three main fishing communities, based on reports from onboard observers (Method 1) and those observer reports combined with information from interviews with fishermen (Method 2), was 84 (95% CI: 14, 155) (Method 1) or 39 (95% CI: 14, 93) (Method 2) (Rojas-Bracho and Taylor 1999, D'Agrosa et al. 2000). Using the 1997 abundance estimate, the range of bycatch estimates for a single community in the early 1990s, and plausible potential rates of population increase for phocoenids, Rojas-Bracho and Taylor (1999) estimated that the vaquita population was declining rapidly, possibly by as much as 15% per year. Using the lower of their plausible decline rates (0.05), the population size would be reduced by more than 80% over three generations (i.e., 30 years), including both the past and the future (Rojas-Bracho and Taylor 1999). The cause of the reduction (incidental mortality in fisheries) has not ceased and may even have increased over the last 10 years based on fishing effort (ca. 1,000 gillnet boats might operate in vaquita habitat each year; Rojas-Bracho et al. 2006)."
UNQOUTE
LINK: Phocoena sinus (Cochito, Gulf Of California Harbour Porpoise, Gulf Of California Porpoise, Gulf Porpoise, Vaquita)

These above facts should be a sobering thought ..., even to local communities dependent on fisheries'. In fact, they constitute a direct insult to injury as to what mankind and specifically the fishing communities' within the Gulf have promoted over the last few decades for the species (let alone what it has meant for marine resources and commercial fish stocks in general).

All in all, not a good record to be proud of by any account.

 

Estimado Kifaru, i agree with you completely. But i am a realist about mexican politicians and votes. It is a pity that the only way to save the vaquitas is removing them from their native hábitat. This ís what Profepa is actually saying.

 

Last-ditch effort to save the vaquita to begin

 

Let's hope there are some left to save.

 

I’m confused are they bringing them into captivity?

 

Yes. It is similar to the situation years ago with California condor, where there were so few that the only way to save them was to capture the entire remaining wild population for captive breeding before returning them to the wild.

 

Do you know when and where they will go?

 

I believe they have a sea pen specially built for the purpose.

 

Here is an article about the vaquita program, the installations at San Felipe, Baja California and the 4 navy dolphins that are participating. It is in spanish
El santuario de la vaquita marina, una esperanza para su salvación - TecReview

 

Official kick-off date for the marine rescue operation is today October 11, 2017.