Vaquita: Science, Politics, and Crime in the Sea of Cortez

Longtime field biologist and research fellow Bessesen presents a passionate if meandering case for saving the world’s most critically endangered marine mammal, the vaquita, a five-foot-long porpoise that lives in only one place on earth: the Sea of Cortez, between Baja California and the rest of Mexico. During the 20 months Bessesen researched them, the number of remaining vaquitas dwindled from 60 to possibly 15. The culprit is the gill net, used by fishermen for decades to catch a fish called totoaba, whose swim bladders are highly valued in China for their supposed curative powers. But gill nets catch and kill vaquitas, too. Bessesen chronicles efforts to confiscate gill nets and to count vaquitas, as well as visits with villagers, fishermen, Mexican government officials, and scientists to get their takes on the little porpoises. The situation has set struggling fishermen and environmentalists against each other: the government has announced gill net bans, provided subsidies for fishermen using alternative gear, and created a vaquita refuge, but these measures have been abused or gone unenforced. Poachers, cartels, and corruption abound. A last-ditch effort by scientists to raise vaquitas isn’t promising; they’re ill-suited to captivity. Even the involvement of UNESCO and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio and a growing media blitz about the vaquitas’ plight haven’t seen the animals’ population rebound. Although Bessesen sometimes refers to events and vaquita numbers confusingly out of sequence, this is a heartfelt and alarming tale. [em](Sept.) [/em]