The survey to get an accurate count of the porpoises began on Sept. 26 and will continue through early December. Scientists from Mexico, Germany, the U.S. and United Kingdom are doing the counting aboard the R/V Ocean Starr.
Conservationists, researchers and the government of Mexico have mounted a full-on effort to save the vaquitas, which have been in decline at least since they were first identified by scientists in the 1950s.
They have been driven to the verge of extinction in part by fishermen intent on catching the also-endangered totoaba fish, which is prized in Asia for the supposed medicinal properties of its swim bladder, which aids the animal`s flotation.
Chief expedition scientists Lorenzo Rojas of SEMARNAT and Barbara Taylor of NOAA Fisheries meet with Mexico`s Minister and Deputy Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources, the Director of Fisheries and the Governor of Baja California aboard the R/V Ocean Starr on Oct. 1, 2015.
"We`re at the last battle — which we`re hoping to win — for a patient that`s basically on the emergency table," said Barbara Taylor, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researcher and one of the two chief scientists on the expedition. "It`s an absolutely stunningly beautiful species that`s only found in this tiny space in Mexico."
More about:
