Porpoise in Peril (Pdf)

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www.nrdc.org/policy 202-289-2368 or Ani Youatt at 202-289-2388 Ari Hershowtiz at or contact: uppergulf/ www.savebiogems.org/ please visit: For more information

Ocean Facts extinction of the vaquita marina. your seafood purchases do not contribute to the shrimp. Please work with us to make sure that move to more sustainable harvesting methods for that fishing communities stop using gillnets and and drown. With so few vaquita left, it is critical marina, which get entangled in the nets’ webbing used to catch shrimp can be deadly for the vaquita high costs to wildlife and ecosystems: the gillnets around 4 pounds a year. But shrimp comes with States, with the average American consuming Shrimp is the most popular seafood in the United The High Cost of Unsustainable Shrimp sides oftheborder toprotect thiscritically endangered porpoise. from Mexico toU.S.consumers.Immediate actionmustbetakenonboth is the accidental entanglement in nets set for fish and shrimp that is exported The mainthreatpurely tovaquitas humanactivities. becauseof destructive could becomethesecondmarine mammaltogoextinctinourlifetimes small marine mammal. With only100to400porpoises left,thevaquita ( NRDC isracingagainsttimetoprevent theextinctionofvaquita marina mammal in the world the most endangered small marine Porpoise in Peril: Phocoena sinus endangered vaquitamarinaporpoise,causingtheporpoisestodrown. Gillnets liketheseareusedtocatchfishandshrimpintheGulfofCalifornia,butnetscanensnare ), theworld’s smallestporpoiseandnow itsmostendangered feeding area for porpoises, dolphins, and whales. and brown shrimp as well as a critical nursery and waters are an important spawning ground for blue marine ecosystems in the world. Its nutrient-rich Upper Gulf is also one of the most biodiverse of marine mammals and 891 species of fish, the any porpoise (see map). Home to 33 other species giving it the smallest geographic distribution of only in the Upper Gulf of California, Mexico, expanses of ocean, the vaquita marina is found While many marine mammals range across wide The Vaquita’s Only Home Upper Gulf of California: Help protect

Porpoise in Peril

Although the Mexican government created Upper Gulf of California: the Upper Gulf of California and Colorado River The vaquita’s only home Delta Biosphere Reserve in 1993 to protect the vaquita and its habitat, rampant over-fishing, Ocean Facts Ocean uncontrolled shrimp trawling, and the use of gillnets have degraded the marine environment and jeopardize the vaquita.

NRDC Fights for the Endangered Vaquita In March 2005, NRDC launched a campaign to FAST protect the vaquita and its rich marine habitat. By July of that year, we had obtained unprecedented FACTS commitments from local fishermen and Ocean Shrimping Garden, Inc., the largest U.S. importer of Mexican in The Upper shrimp, to prevent further vaquita drownings in Gulf of California fishing nets and to improve the sustainability of the fishery as a whole. As a direct result, fishermen n Approximately 23,000 tons of shrimp were caught each year in have taken measures to cut down on illegal and the Gulf of California from 1994 off-season fishing. The vaquita marina—so rare that no photographs NRDC is now working with Mexican exist of the species—lives only in the Upper Gulf of to 2000. California, Mexico. partners and an international committee of n Shrimp nets catch species scientists to develop new protections for the other than shrimp at a rate of vaquita, create economic alternatives for local Preventing the Vaquita’s Extinction 1:10, affecting as many as 400 fishing communities, and generate global There is still time to protect the vaquita, but it will different species in the Upper awareness and financial support to eliminate require the commitment and financial support of Gulf of California. entangling gillnets. people who are dedicated to saving marine life and n Nearly 200,000 tons of protecting our oceans. The Mexican Government species other than shrimp are NRDC Partners with Local Fishermen must enforce an effective monitoring program— taken in by gillnets (by-catch) Providing fishermen with sustainable economic one that includes independent, third-party each year in the Upper Gulf alternatives is the only way to gain the support of verification—to keep gillnets out of the water. of California. local communities and save the vaquita. Without NRDC will press the government, fishermen, and n Shrimp nets drag across the participation of local fishermen, government Ocean Garden, Inc. to create a comprehensive every shallow place in the Upper regulation of the Biosphere Reserve will continue program of monitoring and enforcement Gulf of California an estimated to be ineffective. throughout the vaquita’s habitat. four times a year, destroying NRDC is working with fishermen in the We have a rare opportunity to save a species, marine habitat. Gulf of Santa Clara, the largest fishing community but we need your help. Please help us remove n No more than 400 vaquita in the area, to permanently give up their gillnets entangling nets from vaquita habitat by visiting marinas are thought be alive used to fish sharks and manta rays in exchange www.biogems.org and taking action today. today, making them one of the for compensation to start up sustainable projects With your help, NRDC can work together with world’s rarest marine mammals. in their community. NRDC plans to work with fishermen to create a future for the vaquita and the these fishermen to remove the nets and develop a communities of the Upper Gulf. community-based monitoring program to ensure that they stay out of the water.