2/3 A reporter was served illegal #totoaba swim bladder soup in Mexicali's Chinatown, & a fisherman, asked how long it had been since he last hauled up an entangled #vaquita in his gillnet, replied "three days."

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 ⬇️

3/4 Acoustic & visual monitoring provides scientific backing for government dialogue with fishing community, says @SEMARNAT_mx @mroblesg, on adjusting rules for specialized protection zones in the short term, & builds the knowledge for the long term perspective for full recovery

2/4 & to guide selection of visual search areas as partners work to develop observation capability aboard original Upper Gulf #vaquita research vessel Koipai Yuxa, covered 21 years ago by @RafaGuadarrama, back in San Felipe thanks to #ENDESU @CONANP_mx @PronaturaNoroes @cedo_mex

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

4/5 "A floating classroom: 17 young San Felipeans apprenticed in visual observations, learning alongside us how to detect & track vaquitas. Coordinated by @CONANP_mx to link science & Upper Gulf communities, creating a new generation of local monitors committed to conservation."

3/5 "May 4-Sept 9 survey to record vaquita echolocation clicks, determine its current distribution & estimate abundance based on these sounds. Every 2 weeks, we worked w San Felipe fishers who placed & retrieved hydrophones at 60-80 sampling sites until study area was covered."
x.com/ernesto_men...

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*

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.