The vaquita porpoise is a Critically Endangered species of true porpoises and it lives in our neighborhood, a tiny area in the extreme northern Sea of Cortez/Gulf of California, in Baja California, Mexico. Last week we attended a very informative presentation by Dr. Thomas A. Jefferson about these endearing creatures.
Jefferson shared the challenge of protecting the remaining vaquitas while acknowledging the difficulty of making major changes in local fishing practices in an economy where fishing is big part of survival. The major danger to vaquita population is the current practice of using gill (nearly invisible) nets to gather fish and shrimp from the waters off the eastern coast of Baja.
