vaquita
One Animal at a Time
Vaquitas
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They are a unique species characterized by a taller, backward-curving dorsal fin than other porpoises and a black stripe that extends from their chin to their long fins, which help them discharge extra body heat.
Porpoises, including vaquitas, differ from dolphins in that they lack a beak, their teeth are spade-shaped rather than conical, and they tend to have triangular dorsal fins.
Raising awareness about the vaquitas and their conservation status
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Vaquitas were scientifically discovered as a new species in 1958. Between 1997 and 2019, hundreds of vaquitas were killed by gillnets. Its estimated population was reduced from approximately 600 to less than 20 animals. Today there are only about 10 vaquitas left.
The vaquita is classified as critically endangered by the IUCN. It will disappear in just a few years if we do not act drastically for its conservation, protection and recovery. The cause of its alarming decline is incidental capture in gillnets.
Bycatch
Vaquitas, dolphins, sea lions, sharks, sea turtles and many other marine animals are drowning in gillnet fisheries. Fisheries destined for the global seafood market are causing the population to decline faster than ever.
They are at the limit of their survival due to illegal fishing with gillnets dedicated to the capture of a large fish, the totoaba, called the cocaine of the sea. Your bladder is worth more than gold in the Chinese markets. This illegal fishing endangers one of the most valuable ecosystems in the world, Baja California (Mexico).
Accidental fishing or bycatch is one of the greatest threats to marine mammals, birds and turtles. For every kg of shellfish, up to 6 kg of "bycatch or discard" such as sea turtles or dolphins are caught.
7.3 million tons of marine animals are accidentally caught each year. Because of the bycatch, species like the Yangtze dolphin have been declared extinct and the vaquita will probably be within this decade unless we support the conservation efforts being carried out by organizations like Sea Shepherd who fight to defend, conserve and protect our oceans.
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Ghost gears
Abandoned, lost and thrown fishing nets are deadly ghosts in the ocean. It kills thousands of species every year: 150,000 dolphins, whales, and seals, and 250,000 seabirds.
The fishing gear is abandoned when the recovery of these gear is deliberately not given and is left in the sea. On other occasions, they lose them due to entanglement with those of another ship or due to adverse weather with great storms. However; sometimes they are thrown into the sea simply because it is "easier and more comfortable" to deposit the old nets there than in a specific container on land for these objects.
Annually, 640 thousand tons of fishing gear are lost in the ocean. Migratory whales get trapped in nets, which are made of nylon and take up to 40 years to degrade. Instead, fishing lines are made of monofilament and remain in the marine ecosystem for up to 600 years. Pelagic longlines can be up to 80 km long.
We must protect marine animals, the ocean and act so that this situation begins to be reversed by taking big steps.
Plastic islands
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is located in the Pacific Ocean, between California and the Hawaiian Archipelago. It moves following the ocean current of the subtropical vortex of the North Pacific. It is over 60 years old and is the largest plastic island in the world. Its size is immense: it is estimated that it occupies from 700,000 to 10 million square kilometers.
It occupies almost the same as the Iberian Peninsula or the United States. The maximum concentration reaches one million pieces of waste per square kilometer, a total amount of garbage that ranges between 3 and 100 million tons. This large island is made up mainly of plastic, light metals and decomposing organic waste. But the element that predominates, without a doubt, is plastic.
According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the Pacific waste island is growing very rapidly (fed by one ton of waste per day), to the point that it will soon be visible even from the ocean. space.
The bottom under the Great Pacific Garbage could also be covered in underwater debris. Recently, research has found that about 70% of marine debris sinks to the bottom of the ocean, so only a small part would float.
* Information from GQ.
