Endangered Sea of Cortez vaquita to receive conservation grant from SeaWorld. So what’s a vaquita?

Introduction to the Vaquita
The SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, a non-profit foundation dedicated to supporting species research, habitat protection, conservation education and animal rescue, recently awarded grants of more than $1.3 million to 112 environmental and research organizations worldwide. Included among the grant recipients was Oceanides, a conservation group in Mexico. Oceanides will receive $15,000 to study the critically endangered vaquita in the northern Sea of Cortez. So what then is a vaquita, why do we care if it is protected, and how might this be accomplished?

The vaquita, Phocoena sinus, is a small porpoise endemic to the northern Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California). The vaquita is considered to be the most critically endangered marine cetacean in the world. The order Cetacea contains all whales, dolphins, and porpoises.

With the recently declared functional extinction of the Baiji dolphin, Lipotes vexillifer, a freshwater dolphin which inhabited the Yangtze River in China, it seems appropriate to spend some time discussing this porpoise from our own backyard that is in desperate need of help.

In general terms, the vaquita is a small porpoise that reaches an approximate length of about 5 feet/1.5m and a weight of only 110lb/50kg. The vaquita is found only in the very northern reaches of the Sea of Cortez, including El Golfo de Santa Clara to San Felipe where it is most abundant near Rocas Consag. This is in fact the smallest range known to any marine cetacean with a water surface area of only 4000 km2.

The primary threat to vaquita survival is accidental entanglement in commercial fishing nets. Being air-breathing mammals, vaquitas will quickly drown after entanglement if the net prevents them from reaching the surface to breathe. The northern Sea of Cortez used to be the home of a massive fishing industry for the totoaba, Totoaba macdonaldi, a large member of the croaker family (Sciaenidae) that is also an endemic of the Northern Sea of Cortez. Gill nets were placed in such numbers for this fish that the once abundant totoaba population was decimated and the totoaba itself became the first marine fish to be placed on the endangered species list in 1979. Although the vaquita was not a target of these gill nets, they were killed in great numbers through accidental encounters in the turbid waters of the northern Gulf. This resulted in tremendous losses from an already tiny population. Currently, the total number of surviving vaquitas is estimated to be a few hundred.

Part 2 of this series will examine in more detail, the biology and natural history of the vaquita.
Part 3 will look at the history of conservation and human interactions with the vaquita in the Sea of Cortez.
Part 4 will look at the conservation efforts being used to protect the species.

The Latest Export from the Sea of Cortez… Jumbo Squid?

Humboldt, squids, (Dosidicus gigas), are common within the Sea of Cortez, with an estimated ten million of these 6-food (2 meter) cephalopods living in the waters off of Santa Rosalia alone. But now it seems, these voracious predators have eyed the rest of the Eastern Pacific.
Weighing in at up to 100 pounds, (45 kilograms) with a strong parrot-like beak and hook-embedded suckers, these are no retiring calamari. Instead, Humboldt squid employ advanced pack hunting strategies and are able to communicate rapidly through conscious control of their skin chromatophores. They are considered by many to be comparable to dogs in intelligence and possess highly developed and sensitive eyes that can see in nearly complete darkness (the eyes of the related Giant Squid, Architeuthis dux, are the largest in the animal world - 20 inches in diameter).

With rapid generation times, tremendous metabolic needs, and high regional densities, these jet-propelled mollusks tend to make quite an impact on the population dynamics of any ecosystem they join. And they have now been found along the Eastern shores of the Pacific all the way from the Southern tip of South America to Alaska, although their greatest increase in numbers seems to be along the California coast.

The reasons for this shift are unclear. California has seen mysterious surges and disappearances of Humbolt squid before, most notably in the 1930’s, 1970’s and 1990’s, but the range expansion further north and south is something unexpected. Regional migrations of the squid have been noted in the past and have been linked to local food supplies, but a range expansion in both hemispheres may indicate a response to global warming.

The new abundance of squid has been a mixed bag for the coastal economies of Baja, and these effects may be reflected along the Eastern Pacific as the squid become more entrenched. A commercial squid fishery has developed in Santa Rosalia to supply the demands of Asian markets, with hundreds of thousands of tons being pulled from the waters each summer. However, more traditional catches such as Pacific hake, anchovies, and sardines are declining as the voracious squids consume them and this has California fisheries worried.

The squid have even proven a draw along Santa Rosalia and other areas of the Baja peninsula to tourists. Several dive operations now allow scuba divers the opportunity to dive with squids under the watch of experienced guides. Sport-fishermen also have reported that they enjoy fishing for the squids in the winter when most of the big game fish have departed.

Welcome!

Welcome!

Welcome to the Baja - News and Views section of SeaBaja.com. In this section we will be featuring periodic updates about the current water temperatures, visibility, news for scuba divers and boaters, and best of all, animal sightings and other news about this rich and varied ecosystem. We hope that our readers will find this information helpful and entertaining. We would love to hear from you if you have any comments, announcements, or dive reports you would like to share. You may post your comments in response to any of the earlier posts, or you may email us at admin@seabaja.com and our editor will make sure to share your announcements and reports, so long as they are within the scope of this board. Please email us if you have any suggestions about what you would like to see on SeaBaja.com or if there are improvements that you would like to see.
Cheers, SeaCortez (editor)



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