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Conservation group believes new ship will help keep nets out of vaquita habitat

The conservation group Sea Shepherd has a new ship in the Upper Gulf of California, where it is working with Mexican officials to protect the world’s most endangered marine mammal.

For years, Sea Shepherd has worked with the Mexican Navy to find and remove fishing nets from a Zero Tolerance Zone established to protect the nearly extinct vaquita marina porpoise, which can get trapped in fishing gear and drown.

Now, Chairman Pritam Singh says the addition of the Seahorse to the group’s fleet changed their strategy to one of prevention — keeping most nets from ever being set in the protected area through increased surveillance and quicker response times.

“The goal here is to achieve true zero tolerance,” he said during a press conference about the new ship. “The vaquita live in one place in the world, and in that place we want them to be safe. And safety means no nets. So our mantra every day is no nets.”

He said the new strategy makes having zero nets in the protected area a realistic goal, and that could be a turning point for the species.

Known for their small size and the black marking around their eyes and mouth — there are only an estimated 10 vaquita left. But scientists say the species could still recover if protected from fishing gear.

However, despite bans on fishing nets in the protected area, fishing continues, including poaching for a large fish called the totoaba, which is trafficked to China.

Singh said that increased intelligence and more enforcement are the only way to stop that poaching, and he hopes that Sea Shepherd’s increased presence and cooperation with the Navy will make that achievable.

Mexico’s ambassador to the United States, Esteban Moctezuma, was also on the press conference. He called protecting the vaquita a top priority for Mexico.

The country has faced increasing international pressureover its failure to stop the rapid decline in the vaquita’s population in recent years.

But Moctezuma said the collaboration with Sea Shepherd could help the country “turn the tide in this fight and let the vaquita flourish again.”

Kendal Blust was a senior field correspondent at KJZZ from 2018 to 2023.