Mexico: new SOS operation Pacific porpoise, an endangered species

UPGRADE DAY

The race against time has resumed off Mexico against the extinction of the Pacific porpoise, the world's most endangered marine mammal due to illegal fishing fueled by demand in China. 

The Mexican Navy and a boat from Sea Shepherd, an NGO supported by Leonardo Di Caprio, returned to sea in the Gulf of California on Wednesday at a “critical moment”, organizers said Thursday .

There are only about twenty individuals left in the Gulf, also called the Sea of ​​Cortes, its only sanctuary in the world, according to Sea Shepherd.

The “miracle operation” has reduced by 70% the illegal fishing of phocoena sinus, the smallest cetacean in the world (1.5 meters, 50 kilos). “It's encouraging, but we need to do better,” said Sea Shepherd Chief Pritam Singh.

Known as the 'panda of the seas', the Pacific porpoise has been decimated by the nets of fishermen.

Called “vaquita marina” (“little sea cow”) in Spanish, the porpoise has been the collateral victim of the totoaba fish fishery, whose “bladder-fin” sells for up to 8,000 dollars per kilo in China due to its supposed medicinal virtues.

The “vaquita” has been considered an endangered species since 1996.

Leonardo di Caprio, actor of the film “Cosmic denial” (“Don't look up”) on the denial of climate change, produced a film on the fight against the extinction of “vaquitas” and totoabas, “Sea of ​​Shadow

“When Mexican drug cartels and Chinese traffickers join forces to poach totoaba fish, their criminal methods threaten to destroy virtually all marine life in the region,” the pitch reads. of the film.

The “Miracle Operation” was launched in 2015 to save the small, easily recognizable silver cetacean in dark circles that i surround his eyes and his mouth”.