The Rare Vaquita
Vaquita are a severely endangered species of porpoise. They are the rarest marine mammals, with an estimate of only 10 or less remaining in the entire world. Along with being the rarest marine mammals, they also have the smallest range of any marine mammal, living only in the northern section of the Gulf of California in Mexico. They are also very small in size. They weren’t even discovered until 1958, and now they’re almost extinct. According to World Wildlife Fund, “vaquita are often caught and drowned in gillnets used by illegal fishing operations in marine protected areas” (WWF). Often, these illegal gillnets are fishing for totoaba, a type of fish that can earn fisherman a lot of money.
Inbreeding
Of course, a big question is whether the vaquita can even recover when they’re at such a small number. And part of the reason for this question is the issue of inbreeding. Inbreeding can cause many problems for the offspring, and with such a small number left, it will be necessary to increase the population. Some say that if the threat to vaquita is immediately stopped, the species will be able to recover. However, scientists don’t currently know how dangerous inbreeding will be for the vaquita, leading others to argue that a recovery for the species won’t be possible. Despite the doubts, studies performed by the National Institute of Health suggest that there may be hope for the vaquita, as inbreeding may be less harmful than is thought.
Saving the Vaquita
Current information suggests that the only way to save the vaquita is to initiate an immediate and effective ban on gillnets and any other means of fishing that are accidentally catching and killing vaquita. A lot of this fishing is already illegal, but it needs to be enforced in order for the vaquita to be saved. There must also be swift action in order to save them, or they may get to a point where their numbers are so small that recovery will be completely impossible. And though some people believe that there is already no hope for the vaquita, not attempting to save them will ensure that they will die out.
Preventing Accidents
Throughout history, many species have been hunted to extinction or endangerment by humans. A difference between the vaquita and many of these species is that humans are not hunting vaquitas or hurting them deliberately. They are being killed by accident as a result of human activity. The accidental nature of vaquita deaths may be fortunate for the severely hunted porpoises. Since people don’t really want to hunt for them, they may be more willing to obey rules set in place to protect vaquita. Then again, perhaps they will not want to change their fishing habits to help vaquita, as it might interfere with their fishing of the animals they’re trying to catch.
All in all, the attempt to save the vaquita will be hard, and some may even argue that it’ll be impossible. But if the attempt is made, there’s a possibility that the vaquita will recover. Hopefully, the incredible vaquita can be brought back.
Works Cited
“Vaquita.” World Wildlife Fund, www.worldwildlife.org/species/vaquita.
“The critically endangered vaquita is not doomed to extinction by inbreeding
depression.” National Institute of Health, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/
PMC9881057/.
“Vaquita.” NOAA Fisheries, www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/
vaquita#:~:text=The%20vaquita%20has%20the%20smallest,size%20of%20metropolitan%20L
os%20Angeles.
