The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) was first discovered in 1958 when an individual was beached in San Felipe, Baja California Norte. In 1980 CEDO began to encounter vaquitas on the beaches of Puerto Peñasco and renewed interest was generated in the scientific community.   Endemic to the Northern Gulf of California, today the vaquita is considered the most endangered cetacean in the world.  It received this distinction when the Baji, the Chinese River dolphin, was declared functionally extinct in December 2006.

As the scientific community learned more about the vaquita population, its size, limited distribution in the Northern Gulf and high incidental mortality in gillnet fisheries, it concluded that fishing related mortality of the species must be reduced to zero for the vaquita to survive.  In 1997 scientists estimated the vaquita population at fewer than 600 animals, today that number has declined, with probably fewer than 200 of these porpoises surviving.

The establishment of the Upper Gulf of California/Colorado River Delta Biosphere Reserve in 1993 was an important first step to protect the vaquita and its habitat. It has proved challenging to restrict fishing in an area where it was for many years the only economic activity.

In recent years we have learned that 40% of the vaquita’s population occurs outside the Reserve, concentrated around Rocas Consag Island.  Adapting policy to fit these new discoveries, in 2005 the government created a new vaquita refuge that would protect this area of high concentration.  This new restriction has not been welcomed by fishermen, but they have joined a new forum to negotiate a better future for their fisheries and the vaquita.

Known as Alto Golfo Sustentable (Sustainable Upper Gulf), this new forum involves fishermen from the three communities of the Upper Gulf Reserve,  the primary marketer of the Gulf’s shrimp (Ocean Garden) and non-governmental organizations, like CEDO.  The group has agreed on three basic goals: 1) to eliminate fishing-related mortality of vaquita; 2) improve the efficiency and sustainability of the shrimp fisheries; and 3) to eliminate illegal fishing practices.