Vaqita marine mammals on brink of EXTINCTION as just 30 are left, scientists warn
SCIENTISTS are warning that vaquita marine mammals are on the brink of extinction as there are only 30 left in the world.
Navy Dolphins to help save endangered Vaquita Porpoises
The small porpoise found only in Mexico’s Gulf of California looks set to die out.
Scientists conducted a study last summer to count the number of the mammal left by measuring their clicking noises.
But they were horrified to discover that the species had dwindled down to nearly nothing.
Scientists are warning that vaquita marine mammals are on the brink of extinction
It was hoped that naval patrols and Mexico’s emergency gillnet ban, authorized in May 2015, would halt the vaquita’s precipitous decline.
Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho, a cetacean expert at the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change in Ensenada, Mexico told Science Magazine: “The situation is completely out of control. Of course, there’s a risk in capturing the vaquitas. But it’s clear now that they will be killed [in gillnets] anyway.”
In 2015, it was estimated that there were about 60 vaquita’s left. But they are dying out in such high numbers because they often get trapped in illegal gillnets which were set for other fish.
Vaquita’s are shy and stay out of the limelight - but make clicking noises when hunting - which helps scientists to identify them with click detectors.
The latest round of tests to detect them was carried out in the summer of 2016 when scientists created a grid to identify them.
In a last-ditch effort to save the species, the scientists will now attempt to capture an unspecified number of vaquitas in October.
Dolphins from the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Programme will help capture them
Jonas Teilmann, a cetacean biologist at Aarhus University in Denmark, will lead the team to help conserve the vanquitas as soon as possible.
Tellmann says that they intend to work hard not to frighten the timid creatures.
The recovery team plans to use bottlenose dolphins from the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program to spot them in the gulf’s dark waters.
US Navy personal aim to help to save the species
The vaquitas are familiar with dolphins, which also inhabit the gulf.
US Navy personal say it will train the dolphins to use their sonar to seek out air filled lungs - and locate the vaquitas.
After a dolphin identifies a target, it will learn to touch a plate on the side of the boat to alert its handler. The dolphins have already undergone successful trials.
As preparation for the conservation programme gets underway, fears grow that even more vaquitas could have died out since the count last summer.