Black Markets in China Still Driving Tiniest Porpoise to Extinction

"Here’s a sobering update on efforts in Mexico, Hong Kong and mainland China to stave off the extinction of the vaquita, a critically endangered porpoise inhabiting Mexican waters at the north end of the Gulf of California that is the world’s smallest, and rarest, cetacean.

Having written what was essentially an obituary for another cetacean — the Yangtze River dolphin, or baiji — in 2007, I’ve been rather fixated on the plight of the vaquita. (Around New Zealand’s North Island, the Maui’s dolphin, a subspecies of Hector’s dolphin, is also critically endangered.)

The vaquita’s plight is linked to that of another endangered species, a large croaker, the totoaba, which has been aggressively, and illegally, netted in Mexico for its swim bladder, which is worth huge sums in illicit Asian and online markets. Elisabeth Malkin has been doing a fine job of tracking this issue for The Times."

Andrew C. Revkin reports in Dot Earth for the New York Times August 24, 2015.