Montreal. On 1 April 2022, the Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) recommended developing a factual record to explore factors contributing to the near-extinction the vaquita porpoise–the world’s smallest cetacean and rarest marine mammal–in the Gulf of California in Mexico.
The recommendation responds to a Submission on Enforcement Matters under Chapter 24 of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA/CUSMA) filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Animal Welfare Institute, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Environmental Investigation Agency.
The submitters assert that “the Mexican government is failing to effectively enforce several environmental laws and as a result has caused the near extinction of the vaquita porpoise. Approximately only 10 vaquita remain.” The submitters assert that vaquita populations have been declining over the years due to the use of gillnets to fish for totoaba, an endangered fish threatened by illegal fishing for its swim bladder, which is sold in international markets.
