With the introduction
of gillnets in the mid-1960s, the huge fish all but disappeared (though environmental destruction resulting from the Hoover Dam contributed too).
-- Mexico will make permanent a ban on the use
of gillnets in all fisheries throughout the range of the vaquita in the upper Gulf of California;
The plan will be implemented in tandem with ongoing efforts to remove the threat
of gillnets in the Upper Gulf of California and eliminate illegal fishing.
Not exact matches
Despite strong enforcement, illegal
gillnets are still being set to catch an endangered fish known as totoaba, the swim bladders
of which fetch large sums
of money on Hong Kong and Chinese black markets.
The precipitous decline
of the vaquita has been primarily driven by accidental deaths
of the porpoises in fishing
gillnets.
«This is the first large - scale
gillnet ban to save a species from extinction, and includes provisions for the development
of alternative fishing gear to replace
gillnets,» said Barbara Taylor, chair
of the Society's Conservation Committee, who recently returned from more than two months aboard a research ship surveying the northern Gulf
of California for vaquita.
In June
of 2017, the ban on
gillnet fishing was made permanent.
There's other collateral damage, too: Trawling and bottom - set
gillnets (which are left on the seafloor and then hauled up) can contain up to 20 % «bycatch»
of unwanted species, such as deepwater sharks.
The vaquitas, whose popular name translates as «little cow,» are dying at an accelerated rate because
of an increase in the illegal
gillnet fishery for the totoaba (Totoaba macdonaldi).
An international team
of scientists says that the critically endangered vaquita, a species
of porpoise (Phocoena sinus) found only in Mexico's Gulf
of California, is fast approaching extinction and that all
gillnet fishing in the animal's range must be banned.
The study drew upon the Southwest Fisheries Science Center's collection
of skin tissue samples gathered from dolphins inadvertently entangled in
gillnets off Southern California from 1991 to 2008, highlighting the value
of that collection over time.
Dan Nichols was hauling in a
gillnet laden with the fruits
of a late - season Alaskan salmon run when something heavy flopped out
of it, then slid to the front
of his boat.
That very feeling
of helplessness led experts at The Marine Mammal Center to develop innovative rescue techniques that allow them to remove entanglements, mostly
gillnets, from wild marine mammals without risking human lives in the process.
It further recommends increased efforts to introduce alternatives to
gillnet fishing in the communities that will be affected by enforcement
of the exclusion zone.
Officials have failed to enforce past limits on
gillnet fishing, and boats regularly sneak into what had once been a small vaquita refuge
of about 480 square miles.
While Mexico's
gillnet ban is an important step forward in vaquita conservation, it will be unlikely to prevent extinction
of the species unless there is a lasting commitment to rigorous enforcement to stop illegal fishing.
-- Both countries will redouble efforts, in collaboration with international experts, to develop alternative fishing gear to
gillnets that does not result in the entanglement
of vaquita and establish «vaquita - safe» fisheries;
Sea Shepherd crew saves the life
of an adult leatherback turtle entangled in illegal
gillnet in the Upper Gulf
of California, Mexico — a Federally Protected and UNESCO listed Area.
Members
of the program must demonstrate that they are not selling any shark products and that seafood that is offered, be cause with shark safe techniques, such as no «longlines, fish aggregating devices,
gillnets or trawl netting.»
Gillnets targeting swordfish and thresher sharks are set off
of Southern California and are typically a mile - long in diameter.