In the spring of 2017 fellow Wild Lens filmmaker Sean Bogle and myself were driving from my home in Boise, Idaho towards the Mexican border. We had just completed work on our 30-minute documentary film about the vaquita – the world’s most endangered marine mammal – and we were heading towards the epicenter of the vaquita issue – San Felipe, …
The Vaquita Capture Effort
The vaquita capture effort was the most high profile attempt to prevent the vaquita’s extinction. Over 60 marine mammal experts were involved in the approximately two month long program designed to bring the vaquita into a captive environment. The stated goal of this program was the capture as many vaquita as possible – up to 15 animals, which was the …
The Economic Issue at the Heart of the Vaquita Crisis
At its heart, the vaquita issue is an economic issue. Most fisherman continue to use gillnets because they feel like they have no other means to earn a living. The importance of providing alternative livelihoods has been recognized for a long time – in 2008 the Mexican government offered buyouts to local fisherman, and also began testing alternative vaquita-friendly fishing …
The Ghost Net Removal Program
The remote acoustic monitoring program discussed in our previous post is not the only way that local fisherman are getting involved in vaquita conservation. The ghost net removal program also relies on participation from within the community, and this program is also having a significant impact on the vaquita issue. The program is designed to remove gillnets from the …
Why is the Vaquita Almost Extinct?
Listen to this episode in iTunes If you’re wondering what a vaquita is, you should first check out our previous blog article, which answers this question in great detail. I’ll tell you here, that the vaquita is species of porpoise (a marine mammal related to whales and dolphins) found only in the Northern Gulf of California in Mexico – …
What is a Vaquita?
What is a Vaquita? This was the question that I asked of my friend and collaborator Sean Bogle when he called me in the summer of 2014 to tell me about an opportunity to work with the group Save the Whales on an advocacy and outreach campaign focused on this animal. The vaquita was completely unknown to me at the …