Keep those Panchito memes coming

Cetacean cuties 💙

Still far away from the Upper Gulf of California, our wandering southern elephant seal Panchito has swum to rest 30 km south in Nayarit, from Playa Los Alaya to Playa Careyeros x.com/ernesto_men...

Another cetacean stranding on San Felipe beaches this month; authorities are investigating oem.com.mx/lavozdelafro...

Appreciate your vid @sciantsmedia.com! The 2025 survey covered only part of #vaquita known recent range, so the estimated number 7-10 seen (67% probability) should be interpreted as “there are at least this many vaquitas surviving.” Most hopeful is that includes 1-2 calves, evidence of reproduction!

And now for the good news - after many months San Felipe's favorite ⭐ wandering southern elephant seal Panchito has reappeared in the southern Gulf of California, fat, apparently happy & safeguarded by locals & authorities aristeguinoticias.com/2701/natural...

Like their croaker cousin Gulf curvina, #totoaba may be arriving earlier this year to spawn in #vaquita habitat. @PROFEPA_Mx reports securing two totoaba gillnets along with four shrimp nets January 23-25. The large mesh totoaba net pictured appears to be a washed up ghost net. x.com/i/status/20...

"We transform polluting plastics into products with porpoise" - with NAWAL company @PronaturaNoroes is working with women in the #vaquita habitat community of Santa Clara to recycle fishing nets & other plastic trash into crafts & souvenirs that tell an environmental story. x.com/i/status/20...

Mexico honors fishermen & fisher women today. @Conapesca recently published a comprehensive guide to the country's closed seasons for marine & freshwater fisheries (in reply), which are important to respect for sustainability. x.com/i/status/20...

Wow @colossal @BenLamm showed #vaquita porpoise Frida & her calf to Davos @wef 🤩 x.com/i/status/20...

First time annual catch quota for Gulf curvina in #vaquita habitat on a per vessel basis: 6000 kg for each of 737 skiffs with permits. @IMIPASmex analysis shows quota has been exceeded in recent years. With its early start in Dec & huge hauls this one could be one of the worst. x.com/i/status/20...

Transparency & marine mammal bycatch monitoring & mitigation needed to regain access to US market under #MMPA but gillnets largely will remain unacceptable for bycatch risk- 14 (2/3s) of the 21 Mexican fisheries banned by @fisheries.noaa.gov are gillnet fisheries causanaturamedia.com/es/notas/opa...

Bilateral MX-US annual fisheries meeting yesterday important for #vaquita conservation - need to resolve #USMCA & #Pelly compliance processes, & to prevent Upper Gulf gillnetted shrimp laundering into US under stricter #MMPA Certificate of Admissibility enforcement. www.facebook.com/share/p/1Gwr...

1/2 our contribution to answering this question by @jrios-figueroa.bsky.social judicature.duke.edu/articles/mex...

👀 Ten US Senators call on @fisheries.noaa.gov to prohibit imports of red snapper from Mexico - "illegal fishing via cartel-linked supply chains undermines US conservation & enforcement efforts" www.cassidy.senate.gov/wp-content/u...

"How is it possible that in a world where evidence of environmental collapse is overwhelming, govts continue to choose destruction? The #vaquita porpoise has less than ten confirmed specimens in 2025, yet environmental agencies SEMARNAT & PROFEPA are defunded." aristeguinoticias.com/160126/natur...

Spring spawning cousin of the #totoaba, the Gulf curvina, arrived to #vaquita habitat early, first off San Felipe & now Santa Clara. The "recommendation not to catch it now" & wait for the quota & spring lunar tides when production is highest is not being respected. oem.com.mx/tribunadesan...

With the gulf curvina spawning migration in Mexico's Upper Gulf of California underway early, their larger & more endangered cousin the totoaba, typically poached with large-mesh gillnets deadly for the #vaquita, won't be far behind. Totoaba pen & ink drawing Stephanie Dziezyk, Tricaudae Studio

The full September #2025 #vaquita survey report is now published in Spanish by CONANP www.conanp.gob.mx/vaquita_mari...

Happy 10th Anniversary to Pesca Alternativa de Baja California Pesca ABC @pescaabc today 🙌

In the middle of winter, a #vaquita porpoise quilt for warmth by textile artist Alejandra Alcántara @Alexandra408

This kind of closed season gillnetting puts at risk not only #vaquita porpoises but also Upper Gulf community co-management potential & livelihood sustainability, as well as Mexico's efforts to restore US seafood trade through improved fishery governance for marine mammal bycatch mitigation.

Edit: solutions to resolving continued gillnet use in #vaquita habitat are for Mexico & Canada to devise, because one of the 66 intergovernmental organizations the Trump administration withdrew from January 7 was the trilateral #USMCA Commission for Environmental Cooperation

Mexico's Upper Gulf coordination forum #GIS hasn't met since last July. Fishers are demanding a high-level meeting with authorities to resolve their livelihood crisis with action on negotiated amendments to the 2020 gillnet ban for a better future for #vaquita porpoises & people

According to Conapesca 2025 summary published yesterday, 848 panga fishing skiffs are now being monitored with SEMAR (Navy) in #vaquita habitat in the Upper Gulf of California, as part of Mexico's CITES compliance action plan & as required by its 2020 gillnet ban regulation

It's true that Mexico is the American country with the most @unesco.org World Heritage sites (36), but it also has the world's only marine site listed as In Danger, with its status re-assessed as Critical in October 2025, due to gillnet entanglement extinction risk for the #vaquita porpoise.

Mucho work for Mexico in 2026 under US #MMPA seafood import bans. For 65% of 650 Customs codes, shipments must have a @Conapesca Certificate of Admissibility testifying they are not from prohibited fisheries, which include over 65 individual species & groups from #vaquita habitat

Grateful to all those who worked in 2025 towards a sustainable Upper Gulf future for #vaquita porpoises & people. Good tidings for New Year 2026!

It was different on the other site, but on Bluesky we are aligned with our audience - our favorite 2025 post was also yours 💙 Good news from the 2025 #vaquita survey: evidence of reproduction, none of a continued steep decline, & acoustic detection of porpoises where they haven't been heard in years

1/2 Cetacean spotter Heidi Malizia explains how the team worked during the #vaquita 2025 annual survey in September. Location of porpoises seen through Big Eye 25x binoculars is called out in bearing (angle from observer) & distance in reticles (range finding marks on optical lens) ⬇️

1/3 Full story of Johnny Sturgeon for @pulitzercenter.org spotlights work of our partners. Pronatura Noroeste's Valeria Towns: " #Vaquita conservation has historically failed because it alienated the very people who knew the waters best."

Today is the 52d birthday of US Endangered Species Act. The #vaquita porpoise - then called the cochito - listed in 1985 because "...the limited biological information available indicates the species is in danger of extinction." Risk much higher now but so are protection efforts

Project of @Johnny_Sturgeon for @pulitzercenter "Focusing on the #vaquita’s plight alongside localized economic hardship & international enforcement struggles, this human-centered narrative explores the complex realities behind marine conservation efforts" pulitzercenter.org/projects/la...

1/2 Highlights of new @Johnny_Sturgeon #vaquita stories for @pulitzercenter, let's start with his own: "Without being on the ground - & indeed, out on the water - I would have failed to tell the story of these people, or of vaquita conservation, with any accuracy or empathy."

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas 🎶

Mexico has codified environmental law enforcement support for @SEMARNAT_mx & @PROFEPA_Mx from the military - @SEMAR_mx & @Defensamx1 - interagency cooperation that has been pioneered for several years to protect #vaquita porpoise & #totoaba fish in the Upper Gulf of California x.com/DOF_SEGOB/s...

1/2 Global Organized Crime Index @GI_TOC article on #totoaba trafficking ⬇️ to spotlight the steady increase in wildlife crime worldwide. Overall Mexico is third worst scoring countriy for all types of transnational organized crime & China has the worst score for fauna crime.

#HappySolstice Sunday San Felipe

#Totoaba fish & #vaquita porpoise sculptures by conservation artist Jacha Potgieter made from recycled materials

Big congratulations to the Marine Squadron Escuadron Marino - three 8-9 year old kids Amanda Lucido, Ian Gaitán & Aldo Raúl - who won 7th place in Mexico's National World Robot Olympiad 2025 @WROOfficial for creating an underwater robot to help conserve the #vaquitamarina 🤖🐬🏆 x.com/TeleSaltill...

Advisory Council of Upper Gulf of California & Colorado River Delta Biosphere Reserve wants to update 2009 mgt plan & invites @CONANP_mx Director @alvarezicazapc to facilitate attention from President @Claudiashein to resolve #vaquita porpoise & community fishing economy crises x.com/TribunaSL/s...

Fantastic news that @colossal has doubled its nonprofit funding & its supported projects include developing @CONANP_mx @PronaturaNoroes #vaquita porpoise community monitoring program in San Felipe 💙 x.com/BenLamm/sta...

After #CITESCOP20 adopted Decisions from US & Mexico requesting Mex to urgently implement 2020 gillnet ban Agreement *or any new or revised version of it* & consider adjusting #Vaquita Refuge & ZTA borders based on 2025 survey, San Felipe fishers want govt meeting on this pronto x.com/NotiPesca/s...

Maritime geopolitics expert Christian Ehrlich argues that Mexico claiming entire Gulf of California as its sovereign sea could improve national security, but #vaquita habitat in the Upper Gulf has long been a territorial sea under Mexico's total control & is not secure, just sayin' solde.mx/4s5d74n

#Vaquita sightings depend on recognition of the dorsal fin, "proportionately much taller than in other porpoise species & roughly triangular, with the anterior edge slightly convex & longer than the posterior edge, which is nearly straight or slightly concave" Brownell et al 1987

San Felipe's shrine on the malecon hilltop is in good shape for today's holiday of the Virgin of Guadalupe thanks to a recently completed rehabilitation project of the stairs access led by the Navy, with volunteers & donations, perfect spot to look out over #vaquita habitat

1/3 Late fall normally peak shrimp season but Upper Gulf fishers complain of low prices & poor average catches (using gillnets, despite illegality since 2015). Santa Clara claims 120,000 kg, about 1/3 of Oct-Mar seasonal capture levels @CECweb, since gillnetting resumed in 2019.

Testimony from @BrookingsInst @VFelbabBrown before US Senate on Chinese organized crime in Latin America: its involvement in #totoaba poaching in #vaquita habitat began in early 2010 & intensified over next several years, a harbinger of what has emerged as a major regional crisis

A collaboration agreement between @pescaabc & @SEMARNAT_mx enforcement arm @PROFEPA_Mx to coordinate monitoring, protection & rescue of marine wildlife in the Upper Gulf of California - "a great step toward improving conditions for wildlife in that part of Mexico" #vaquitamarina x.com/PROFEPA_Mx/...