Vaquita. Photo source: Here & Now – Barbara Taylor / NOAA
Excerpts;
China’s lucrative black market for fish parts is threatening the vaquita, the world’s most endangered marine mammal. The porpoises, who live only in the Gulf of California, are getting caught up as bycatch in illegal gill nets and killed.
Today, fewer than 100 vaquitas remain, earning it the dubious title of world’s most endangered marine mammal. Scientists fear the porpoise could vanish by 2018…
Vaquita Porpoise Faces Imminent Extinction—Can It Be Saved? National Geographic (08-14-2014)