Vaquitas: Mexico’s plan to save endangered porpoises could backfire

Hundreds of cement pillars with hooks have been deployed in the Gulf of California to hang fishing nets that threaten endangered porpoises, but these could also trap marine life and pollute the waters

By Corryn Wetzel

In a last ditch attempt to save a critically endangered porpoise, Mexican authorities began dropping weighted metal hooks into the Gulf of California in July. The objective is to catch illegal gillnets, thereby discouraging and thwarting the practice of fishing which is largely responsible for the winnowing of population of vaquitas only eight people.

“With so few vaquitas left on the planet, we are in no position to make any mistakes,” says Alex Olivera in the center of …