A temporary ban on gillnet fishing in Mexico’s upper Gulf of California decreed two years ago by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has been extended through the end of June.

Aimed at protecting the vaquita porpoise that is endemic to the upper gulf, the measure includes compensation payments to local fishermen in Baja California and neighboring Sonora.

José Calzada, who is Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food, SAGARPA, announced the extended gillnet ban in Ensenada on Wednesday, the day the ban was set to expire.

Mexico has taken unprecedented measures to protect the vaquita, yet the population has continued to dwindle, with fewer than 30 believed alive today.


The main reason, scientists say, is the continued use of gillnets by poachers who are searching for totoaba, a large fish whose swim bladder commands high prices in Asia, where they are thought to have medicinal value. The vaquitas end up as by-catch and drown.

With vaquita now on the brink of extinction, the issue has drawn much attention from the international environmental community, which maintains that only the enforcement of a permanent gillnet ban in the region can ultimately save the species.

Mexico has committed to coming up with “vaquita-safe” alternative gear for use by local fishermen, but no acceptable options have been presented by the National Fisheries Institute.

A statement from SAGARPA said that “the restriction on fishing in the upper Gulf of California will remain in place as long as there are no sustainable techniques and nets that protect species such as the vaquita and totoaba,” both of which are considered critically endangered.


Fishermen in the communities if San Felipe and Golfo de Santa Clara are hoping that the compensation payments can be extended through the end of the year, said Ramón Franco Díaz, who heads a federation of fishing cooperatives.

Franco said that fishermen will need time to test any new vaquita-safe alternative gear approved by the government, “to make certain that it works.”

sandra.dibble@sduniontribune.com

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