One of the world's most endangered mammals could become extinct within the next five years, scientists say.
The population of vaquita, a small porpoise found in Mexico's Upper Gulf of California, has dwindled to about 60, according to a report from the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita, an advisory group commissioned by the Mexican government.
There were 570 of the mammals in 1997. The number reduced to 250 in 2008. Researchers recorded about 60 in 2015. Three more of the porpoises were found dead in March, tangled in gill nets, according to researchers.
While efforts are being made to protect the vaquita, they continue to get caught and drowned as fishermen catch the totoaba fish, which is also endangered. The report urges a permanent ban on drift gill nets used and stronger enforcement against illegal fishing.
"We are watching this precious native species disappear before our eyes," Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho, CIRVA'S chairman, said in a statement. "The gill net ban and strong enforcement must continue if we are to have any hope of saving the vaquita."
Rojas-Bracho, who is coordinator of research and marine mammal conservation at Mexico's National Institute for Ecology and Climate Change, was part of the nine week study last fall to find out how many vaquita are remaining.
Researchers spent hours scanning the water surface for signs of the vaquita, which has to surface to breathe. The expedition was commissioned by the Mexican government.
If gill-netting is allowed to resume in the Upper Gulf, the vaquita could be extinct by 2022, Barbara Taylor, a conservation biologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla and co-chief scientist in the vaquita survey told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
"We would be in much worse shape if they hadn't taken the emergency ban," Taylor told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Aside from the gill net ban, there are other conservation efforts being made to save the vaquita.
There is a compensation program to offset the income loss because of the ban. The Mexican government has set aside $36 million a year to help about 2,700 fishermen, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Conservationists are working to get fishermen to switch from gill nets to vaquita-safe shrimp trawlers. However, fishermen are slow to make the change because they harvest fewer fish using the trawlers, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Other fisherman are working with scientists trying to test out new equipment. However, Mexico's National Fishing and Aquaculture Commission has not given them a fishing permit.
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