Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho @CITES #CITESCOP20 interview @cnni @nellylew "It’s a vicious circle. To save the #vaquita, you need to eliminate bycatch, & to eliminate bycatch, you have to eliminate the gillnet. While alternative gear has been developed, there's no incentive for fishers to

Editorial #vaquita cartoons @Excelsior @visoor #Llera after #CITESCOP20- so true that every gillnet used, every day, could spell disaster, but @CITES success in compelling Mexico's serious effort to solve this problem is an extraordinary process given legal limits of this treaty.

Mexico brought #vaquita porpoise figurines made from recovered & recycled fishing nets in San Felipe by local community group to #CITESCOP20 🐬

1/3 Highlights of statements by Switzerland & UK @CITES #CITESCOP20 during the discussion in Samarkand today which agreed by consensus in Committee II the amended Decisions jointly proposed by the Mexico & the US on #vaquita #totoaba x.com/ernesto_men...

CAT loving😻the crowded room today at #CITESCOP20 for Mexico's side event on #vaquita porpoise recovery with @SEMARNAT_mx video featuring our partners @PronaturaNoroes & @pescaabc working on building a sustainable Upper Gulf fishing economy & a community engaged in conservation. x.com/mroblesg/st...

For #ThankfulThursday a Gemini illustration of the #vaquita porpoise named after artist Frida Kahlo. She appears to be pregnant again in September 2025 drone footage @FabianRguez94. No exaggerating how critical this mother is to the survival of her species 🙏 x.com/Milenio/sta...

Fishery Improvement Projects FIPs are multi-stakeholder initiatives that help fisheries work towards sustainability. FIP accreditation is necessary for premium price vendors like SmartFish Mexico supporting fair trade for fishers. Webinar tomorrow Pronatura Noroeste on strengthening FIP governance.

Strengthening #Vaquita community monitoring program a focus of 2025 survey "Continued investment & more training can go far in creating a dedicated team to continue vaquita observations & build community knowledge & enthusiasm for saving the vaquita & preserving marine ecosystem"

#Vaquita porpoise 🐬 in the high level dialogue opening #CITESCOP20 - Among the group of ministers invited to share their experiences with CITES implementation was Mexico's Marina Robles García, Vice Minister of Biodiversity & Environmental Restoration Earth Negotiations Bulletin @enb.iisd.org

Today @Cites #SC79 requested Mexico to fully achieve & report on its #vaquita #totoaba action plan to #SC81 (approx 1 year). US amendment for Secretariat to consider relevant info from other sources unnecessary as @Ben_J_v_R confirmed that Sec does so without explicit mention.

Mexico achieved most of its stated goals in its #vaquita #totoaba compliance action plan & Nov 23 @CITES #SC79 will decide a deadline. Alternative gear part is the most incomplete & challenging, but progress includes @IMIPASmex test plan for @pescaabc modified shrimp small trawl.

1/2 Nifty tech: #vaquita survey lead drone pilot @FabianRguez94 flew with adapted LIDAR altimeter at precisely vertical position above the #vaquitas they spotted; calibrated equation converts pixel length into real distance; length & girth estimated for assessing age & condition.

Thanks to our citizen donors who helped us support #vaquita acoustic science 🤝 in the September survey

#Vaquita acoustic citizen + science team September 2025 (📷 @19jolguin)

1/3 Before @CITES #SC79, new CAT report analyzing @SeaShepherdSSCS counts of fishing skiffs on its ship radar in 4 parts of #Vaquita Refuge - ZTA Zero Tolerance Area, its EXTension (both with anti-gillnet devices), its Buffer Zone & nearby VRA area visible on 8 naut mile range

At @CITES #COP20 Mexico will be requested to "effectively prevent fishers from using gillnets in the #Vaquita Refuge & vessels from entering the Zero Tolerance Area & maintain these areas completely gillnet-free" but this won't happen without real change in fishing gear & markets

Good long read on 2025 #vaquita survey results, context & implications Exciting sighting of "a mother & calf close enough to see with the naked eye, doesn’t happen very often as they’re really, really difficult to see. If there’s any swell they just disappear. Plus, there's only a few of them left"

A first in #vaquita habitat, making progress for environmental education - some of the crafts & souvenirs made from recycled fishing nets & beach cleanup plastic trash in the Upper Gulf, supported by CONANP, Pronatura Noroeste & Pesca ABC

1/3 Amazing @nmas #vaquita retrospective with film from 30 years ago, interviewing Caterina D'Agrosa, lead researcher on the only study to properly quantify the level of gillnet bycatch. Entanglement was all too common, & fishers were willing to bring the carcasses back to her. x.com/nmas/status...

Viral video is one of dozens of Upper Gulf fishers making new shrimp gillnets. It's illegal to make them & use them, but because everyone is doing it, no one is punished. And they shouldn't be, they obviously are not criminals & not seeking to cause harm to #vaquita. Solution ⬇️

It's encouraging to see Upper Gulf #vaquita safe fishing gear & policy high on CONAPESCA Commissioner's agenda & joint work with SEMARNAT

The return of the Koipai Yuxa is in its Cucapá name, Departing & Returning With Eyes On The Water, chosen by a 2004 children's regional school contest, & its mission, a living remembrance & working legacy of its designer, #vaquita acoustic monitoring & citizen science pioneer Armando Jaramillo

1/4 Engaging San Felipeans in citizen science & technology to build skills, pride & responsibility for #vaquita porpoise has 2 parts, covered by @AnaC_Olvera 1) @pescaabc supports @CONANP_mx acoustic monitoring in known high use areas & if reoccupying former range (distribution) x.com/CanalOnceTV...

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society video of freeing sea lions from strangling loops of fishing net around their necks on Rocas Consag island in the #Vaquita Refuge with Pesca ABC, PROFEPA & CABET Rescate Lobos Marinos

1/5 Gustavo Cárdenas Hinojosa, Barbara Taylor & Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho write of their long struggle together to save the #vaquita porpoise from extinction via gillnet entanglement & why results of their 2025 research give them hope x.com/AristeguiOn...

More fabu @FabianRguez94 drone footage from September #vaquita porpoise survey, a single adult *💚💙 the changing palette of blues & greens of the Upper Gulf sea water*

Awesome that United Nations Development Program @PNUD_Mexico is supporting #vaquita expert Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho & @CONANP_mx hydrophones for their acoustic monitoring program x.com/ernesto_men...

A nice #vaquita fin shot with Roca Consag island from the September survey

Commissioner of @Conapesca @RigoSalgadoV has been holding key consultations re: urgent measures his agency needs to take to support & transition Upper Gulf communities to legal sustainable fishing, stop illegal gillnetting in #vaquita habitat & resolve intl sanctions on Mexico.

The extensive acoustic monitoring efforts of the summer of 2025 leave no doubt that #vaquita now occur well north of the ZTA in the Refuge, but during the visual survey there were only two days with optimal calm Beaufort conditions for searches there & none were seen

Summer 2025 had more acoustic monitoring effort for the #vaquita porpoise than any other season in the entire 15 year history of this pioneering program developed & led by CONANP Mexican scientists supported by technical field skills of San Felipe fishers including Pesca ABC.

Great to have Mexico Marine Wildlife Rescue Center return for recurring training for San Felipe community chapter of the national whale disentanglement network #RABEN with support & participation from ECOBAC, @CONANP_mx, @PROFEPA_Mx, @SEMAR_mx & San Felipe municipal govt.

1/3 #Vaquita are more protected from gillnets in the Zero Tolerance Area due to deterrents & enforcement, but outside this small safety zone gillnets are being used every day rn for shrimp. Fishers aren't hiding it & neither should the Mexican government & solving it is urgent.

Report by @Fannymiranda26 for @Milenio is autodubbed into English & contains an interview with drone pilot @FabianRguez94 working for @SeaShepherdSSCS, describing how he was able to capture amazing footage Sept 23 of #vaquita mother Frida & her calf despite the fading light 🌄

Our top 3 good news hot takes on the 2025 #vaquita porpoise survey 🐬🔥🎉 1) Fabulous drone footage, especially Sept 23 of mother Frida (tied for record size at 1.5 meters, & possibly pregnant) swimming with her estimated year old calf. Evidence of population reproduction ♀️♂️!

Many Mexican seafood fisheries will be banned from exporting to US under #MMPA Marine Mammal Protection Act after Jan 1. While some need to start from scratch to develop bycatch mitigation measures, in Upper Gulf it is matter of compliance with #vaquita safe gear & policies.

Know your logo The Upper Gulf and Colorado River Delta Biosphere Reserve is the most special place in the world, imho #vaquita #vaquitamarina

1/2 Dr. Barb Taylor, leader of annual #vaquita survey, shares a few details ahead of the Oct 28 2025 results release including the mother named Frida was seen for 3d year in a row & sonar bathymetry was used to map #Vaquita Refuge depth & seafloor sediment ridges, known to be preferred microhabitat.

1/2 Kudos to @pescaabc & all partners for good results from hard work last week to capture anesthetize, disentangle, treat, mark & release sea lions on Roca Consag island 🦭✂️ One young female was a recapture, rescued twice. Six other previous patients observed in good condition x.com/PROFEPA_Mx/...

Upper Gulf beach cleanups organized by our partners @CONANP_mx @PronaturaNoroes @pescaabc Tomorrow Saturday October 25 from 8-10 am 🚮🏖️

1/2 European Parliament has called on the @Cites Secretariat to issue a recommendation for Parties to suspend trade with Mexico for failing to complete its #vaquita #totoaba action plan but this position unlikely to find support from European Union & its members states' because x.com/ernesto_men...

1/2 San Felipe beach boat ramp isn't listed as an official embarkation point in Mexico's 2020 gillnet ban regulation ("Agreement"). Mexico told @CITES legalization being considered but so far no change. In Nov Mexico reports to @CITES on #vaquita #totoaba action plan progress. x.com/lavozfronte...

So pleased that @pescaabc Katy Carpio @katy_3c & @PronaturaNoroes Anne Espinoza @Anne_Espinoza88 were part of this significant gathering in Campeche for strengthening the role of women in fishing & seafood x.com/CausaNatura...

1/5 Peaceful protest by some San Felipe fishers yesterday - when authorities stopped their use of the unofficial beach boat ramp to trailer their pangas into the sea, they opened the alternate route down through the estuary by breaching the new sand seawall oem.com.mx/lavozdelafro...

Official Baja state government news article is more cautious: "Regarding the reports of *possible* presence of #vaquita porpoise *calves,* she stated that although they are encouraging, the conclusions of the specialists must be awaited." 😶⏳🧘 x.com/CetaceanAct...

Us: waiting with baited breath for official announcement of the final results of the September survey of the world's most endangered marine mammal #vaquita porpoise 😶 ⏳🧘 Baja California SEPESCA Secretary Alma Rosa García Juárez: scientists saw a calf 🤩🥳🌟🎉 🐬🐬 oem.com.mx/elsoldetijua...

Glad new CONAPESCA Commissioner is pledging to help regularize fishing in the Upper Gulf, where many fish without permits, but this headline is not a good look, the agency has been part of negotiations with the community on the #vaquita gillnet ban area for a long time. oem.com.mx/lavozdelafro...

On windy opening day of shrimp season when govt leaders met fishers from San Felipe & Cucupah ethnicity, 300 pangas w banned gillnets & faulty vessel monitoring systems went in the #Vaquita Refuge area @ernesto-mendez.bsky.social We all see the problem is multi-faceted & can only be solved together

Shrimp season has opened, starting months of banned small mesh monofilament gillnets in the sea. Solutions for both porpoises & people are long overdue & now more urgent than ever. Good to see @Conapesca is listening to fishers - meetings in Santa Clara yday & San Felipe today. x.com/RigoSalgado...

Two new #vaquita art pieces for today! 1) Work in progress by @paleontologizing.bsky.social for @kaseysnow.bsky.social