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The Vaquita is on the Edge of Extinction – Can Technology Save It? · How To Protect The Ocean

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  Have you heard of the vaquita?
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  It's a small porpoise
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  about four to five feet,
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  90 to 120 pounds, and it
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  lives in the Gulf of California,
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  or also known as the
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  Sea of Cortez in Mexico.
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  And it's critically endangered.
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  It's critically endangered
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  because of fishing for a fish
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  that's called the totoa alba,
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  where the swim bladders are
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  used for medicinal purposes
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  over in China.
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  We're gonna talk about
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  why conserving these animals
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  and getting above the 10
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  individuals that they're at now,
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  estimated to be lower
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  than 10 individuals,
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  why that's so important and
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  why we need to conserve this
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  and what we need to do
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  to help conserve this.
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  I'm gonna give you a
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  breakdown of why they're critically
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  endangered, what's been happening.
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  And I'm also gonna talk
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  about some of the new technology
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  that can help in
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  monitoring the protection
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  and making sure that we
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  can get these vaquita back
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  to a healthy state.
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  On this episode of the "How
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  to Protect the Ocean" podcast,
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  let's start the show.
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  Hey everybody, welcome back
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  to another exciting episode
• 1:00:54
  of the "How to
• 1:00:55
  Protect the Ocean" podcast.
• 1:00:56
  I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.
• 1:00:57
  And this is the podcast where you find
• 1:00:58
  out what's happening
• 1:00:58
  with the ocean, how you
• 1:00:59
  can speak up for the ocean,
• 1:01:00
  what you can do to live for a better
• 1:01:01
  ocean by taking action.
• 1:01:04
  Now, today's episode, we are going to be
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  talking about the vaquita
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  and we're gonna be talking about a fish
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  called the Totoauba.
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  I'm gonna break down why these
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  two ocean animals are related
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  and what we need to do to help protect
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  both of these animals.
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  We're gonna talk about new technology
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  that can actually help us do that.
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  And some of the
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  organizations that are helping out,
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  some of them have been a controversy
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  around them in the past,
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  but they're actually helping
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  out right now in the present
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  and hopefully in the future.
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  So we're gonna talk all about that.
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  But before we do that, if you want to
• 1:01:31
  find out more about this podcast
• 1:01:33
  and find out more about what you can do
• 1:01:34
  to live for a better ocean
• 1:01:36
  and how to protect that ocean, just
• 1:01:38
  subscribe to the podcast
• 1:01:38
  on this YouTube channel.
• 1:01:40
  Go to speakupforblue.com to
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  find all of our other episodes.
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  It's always fun.
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  A lot of news on how
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  to protect the ocean.
• 1:02:01
  All right.
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  Let's get back into the episode.
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  The vaquita.
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  Wonderful animal.
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  Cute little thing.
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  They always say it has like
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  eyeshadow around its eyes.
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  Just got black around its eyes and it's
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  got these black lips.
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  Really cool animal to be able to see.
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  Obviously very rare.
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  Rarest marine mammal in the world.
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  Critically endangered.
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  Under 10 individuals.
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  It's under 10 individuals because of gill
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  netting for a fish called the Toto Alba.
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  Toto Alba have the swim bladders
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  that Asian countries really
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  enjoy for medicinal purposes.
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  Even though there hasn't been any link to
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  the fact that you can
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  use it for medicinal use.
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  And they'll actually help in whatever
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  they're being helped for
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  or they're being used for.
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  However, they're still being caught.
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  And now it's gotten to the point where
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  it's a little out of control.
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  There's a huge network of illegal
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  wildlife trafficking
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  because it is illegal to fish
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  for the total Alba.
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  It is illegal to fish for the vaquita.
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  But what happens essentially is when you
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  put the gill nets in,
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  it's basically a big net
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  that goes down the water column.
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  Fish swim into it.
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  They get caught into it.
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  And unfortunately, it can be a little bit
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  discriminatory for certain fish.
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  Like bigger fish will have smaller nets.
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  You can allow the grading the actual net
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  size or the mesh size to go through.
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  So allow smaller fish to go through and
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  bigger fish get
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  caught on those gill nets.
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  But also porpoises get caught.
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  You can get dolphins, some other fish
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  like sharks, but you
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  can also get the vaquita,
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  which is known and it's
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  endemic in the Sea of Cortez.
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  And it's a big, big problem.
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  It's taken that critically endangered
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  species from about 95
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  individuals a while ago.
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  And they just plummeted
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  down to under 10 recently.
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  And it's been steady for
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  about the last 10 years or so.
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  And there have been efforts to decrease
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  the incentive to fish for a total Alba.
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  There's been efforts to monitor the Sea
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  of Cortez, Gulf of California,
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  to make sure that people are not fishing
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  for total Alba using those gill nets.
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  There's a number of problems really is
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  when we look at it is
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  the fact that there is a demand in Asia
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  for the swim bladders of the total Alba.
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  There is a reason and incentive for
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  illegal wildlife
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  traffickers to bring the swim bladders
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  to Asia. There's definitely an incentive
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  for that. There's a lot of money in it.
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  There is an incentive for the fishers to
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  fish for total Alba
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  because they get more money
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  and fishing communities in Mexico in this
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  area are not very rich
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  and they can get money that
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  can feed their family. So there's a lot
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  of incentive to do so.
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  The disincentive is like,
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  we want to protect the vaquita. We want
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  to protect also the total
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  Alba, which is also endangered.
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  These species are endemic to this area of
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  the world and we want to
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  make sure that we can protect
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  them. We also want to make sure that
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  fishers can fish there for quite a long
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  time. We also want to
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  make sure that we decrease illegal
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  activity and we want to make sure that
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  there's a big education
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  that has to be done around the
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  conservation of total Alba to make sure
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  that swim bladders are
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  not in demand. So how do you do that?
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  Well, the first thing that
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  the government of Mexico did
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  was they established a 1200 kilometer
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  square vaquita refuge in
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  2005 later enforce a stricter
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  288 kilometer squared zero tolerance area
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  in 2020 prohibiting all boat
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  entries. So when you try and
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  enter that area, the enforcement is going
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  to stop you because you're
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  not supposed to be in that area.
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  Patrol initiatives now patrolling is a
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  difficult thing you were talking about
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  even though this is a
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  smaller bay when you talk about the
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  ocean. It is a pretty big area and it's
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  really hard to track. Satellite imagery
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  can track it, but it's also
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  never really on the mark at the same
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  time. It's really hard to
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  catch the boats afterwards.
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  Patrolling is probably your best bet.
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  That means you require a boat there at
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  all times. You require the boat in this
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  protected area where the
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  vaquitas can survive where the total Alba
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  can survive and they can replenish.
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  Obviously, this zero tolerance area is
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  probably a very
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  important area for the vaquita.
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  They've probably been seen there and
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  they're not easily catchable. Let's just
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  say they're not easily seen in terms of
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  that's what I mean by catchable in this
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  state because they're just elusive.
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  They don't like to come to the surface
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  too much and when they do, they're so
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  small, they just kind of
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  come down and back again, right?
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  So they don't want to be around. So
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  patrolling has been difficult for the
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  Mexican Coast Guard, but a collaboration
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  between the Mexican Navy and the Sea
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  Shepherd Conservation Society,
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  which is the controversial organization
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  that I was talking about, has led to
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  enhanced monitoring of illegal fishing
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  through the use of ships,
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  sonar, radar and drones.
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  This is the new technology that we're
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  talking about here. The Sea Shepherd has
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  upgraded its patrol vessels over the
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  years, currently utilizing a repurposed
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  150 foot former petroleum vessel equipped
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  with advanced sonar and drone
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  capabilities to detect illegal activities
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  and monitor vaquita populations.
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  This is really great because you can
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  actually send the drone out further than
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  where the ship is, maybe
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  hide in an area further away.
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  And so that any kind of fishing vessel
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  that enters the no tolerance zone or zero
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  tolerance zone can be caught.
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  And if they start to fish in a protected
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  area for the vaquita refuge, then they
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  can actually get caught and they can
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  enforce a punishment without having those
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  pictures without being
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  able to actually catch them.
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  These fishers can be quite elusive. That
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  would take away the element of surprise.
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  But having these drones really help
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  having sonar to be able to detect fishing
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  gear in the water is also great.
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  You can also detect something that I
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  didn't realize. You can also detect the
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  mass of fish in the area so that sonar
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  can help with that as well.
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  Now, other organizations like the Earth
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  League International emphasize addressing
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  the root cause of targeting international
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  wildlife trafficking networks and
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  reducing the amount of total products
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  rather than focusing
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  solely on enforcement.
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  You're trying to enforce laws against the
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  fishers, which I get, but they're not
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  rich fishers. They're not making a ton of
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  money off this. They're just trying to
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  feed their families.
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  Take away the incentive for the wildlife
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  trafficking networks to be able to sell
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  that. Take away the incentive for Asian
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  communities to not want the
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  swim bladders for total alb
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  but also to attack it at each of the
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  areas. Go to the local community, invest
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  in the local community and educate the
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  local community on why this shouldn't
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  happen, but also work with them. It's not
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  just going in and saying you can't do
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  this. This is not how we do conservation.
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  That is not the way you go. You work with
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  local community. You get people in the
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  local community as champions. You start
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  to maybe perhaps do alternative types to
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  fishing for total alba and do different
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  things like that. That's been happening
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  over time over the last couple of
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  decades. It hasn't been completely perfect.
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  It hasn't been completely perfect
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  implemented in terms of taking away the
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  incentive of catching total of there's
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  still the money demand for that. And so
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  you have to attack it at the wildlife
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  trafficking network. Now that's talking
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  about working against organized crime and
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  basically the cartels in Mexico are
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  scary. And that's a very difficult thing
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  to do. And also you're looking at
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  educating even countries to decrease the
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  demand. That I feel like is a way that we
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  can really hit the demand and really
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  decrease the demand
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  for the swim bladders.
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  And so what I think is going to be a way
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  to get people to do that is to go in
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  communities where they have these swim
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  bladders in demand and start to talk to
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  them and be like, you know what? You
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  don't need this. There's no actual
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  indication that these have medical
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  properties that can help you in whatever
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  elements that you have and educate them
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  on that. Hopefully again, working with
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  them, not against them, but working with
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  them. And hopefully that will come to
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  fruition. And we see a decrease in
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  demand, meaning everything
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  else just can't eliminate it.
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  And so going after the cartels is one
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  thing. Obviously people are going after
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  the cartels for different reasons, but
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  going after the cartels is a very
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  difficult thing to do. It's scary. It's
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  dangerous going after the fishers little
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  bit easier, but it's still difficult
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  because there's still that incentive for
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  money and to be able to feed their
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  families and get their kids to go to
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  school. It's a very complex situation.
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  And unfortunately, the vaquita is
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  suffering for it and the total out, but
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  of course, but the vaquita suffering for
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  less than 10 individuals in the wild.
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  That is a difficult thing. There are no
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  vaquitas in Capitos.
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  So it's all in the wild. So less than 10
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  individuals. Hopefully we're going to
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  start to see that increase with these
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  types of initiatives. Technology is
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  helping with the monitoring. Education
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  can help with the decrease for demand.
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  And hopefully during that time, the
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  wildlife traffic networks just go away
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  and don't try sell these swim bladders
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  and traffic these swim bladders. But
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  that's it for today's episode. Want to
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  give you a breakdown and update on where
• 1:09:56
  the vaquita is in terms of conservation.
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  Nothing in terms of the population has
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  been under 10 individuals for quite some time. Could be lost.
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  We don't know. It could be higher. Like I
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  said, they're very elusive to monitor.
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  But having drones, having the ability to
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  have sonar, having ships in the area,
• 1:10:12
  even if it's from Sea Shepherd, this
• 1:10:13
  could be really helpful to get the
• 1:10:16
  populations back in healthy shape at some
• 1:10:18
  point. But that's it for today's episode.
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  I'd love to hear what you think of this
• 1:10:21
  episode. You can leave a comment down
• 1:10:22
  below if you're on YouTube or Spotify, or
• 1:10:25
  you can DM me at how to protect the ocean. That's at how to protect the ocean. Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast at the ocean.
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  App as well as on YouTube and Spotify.
• 1:10:35
  And thank you so much for joining me on
• 1:10:36
  today's episode of the how to protect the
• 1:10:37
  ocean podcast. I'm your host, Andrew
• 1:10:38
  Lewin from the true North strong and
• 1:10:40
  free. Have a great day. I'll talk to you
• 1:10:42
  next time and happy conservation.