BAJA CALIFORNIA
A Mexican governmental agency is considering reducing the protected area for endangered vaquita porpoises in the northern Gulf of California as their estimated number there dwindles below 10.
The action comes months after a fisherman’s death prompted accusations that the Mexican federal government values the lives of endangered marine animals and the interests of foreign environmentalists above its own citizens.
The government’s most recent analysis seems to accept the probability that the tiny porpoise species can never return to its original range of habitat.
For years, a battle has raged between environmental groups and San Felipe fishermen seeking a big payday off the totoaba, a fish whose capture often results in the by-catch of the vaquita.