Vaquitas, Right Whales, and Right Ways

Ending the genocide is paramount.

Vaquita, the world's rarest marine mammal, is on the edge of extinction. The plight of cetaceans—whales, dolphins, and porpoises—as a whole is exemplified by the rapid decline of the vaquita in Mexico, with about 10 individuals remaining….Vaquitas are often caught and drowned in gillnets used by illegal fishing operations in marine protected areas within Mexico's Gulf of California. The population has dropped drastically in the last few years. — World Wildlife Fund

(photo: NOAA Fisheries)

VAQUITAS

Some people are trying to save the last of them, the most endangered sea mammal and smallest porpoise in the world. But it’s too little — and may be too late.

Telling it like it is — here’s what today’s news headline should say:

Humans are committing the final act of genocide against the vaquita. To stop it, all parties to this ultimate injustice must agree to end fishing activity in the northern Sea of Cortez.

Home of the vaquita (color shaded area).

But here’s an actual headline through the typical anthropocentric lens:

Mexico hopes to avoid sanctions on vaquita’s near extinction (AP news, Mar 3, 2023) Oh yeah, as if the politics of avoiding sanctions is what’s paramount here!

What! Don’t tell me that Mexico, the U.S., and the world can’t come up with the money to pay fishermen to stay the heck out of vaquita range!

“Mexico could soon be facing trade sanctions this week for failing to stop the near-extinction of the vaquita. It is trying to convince CITES [Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora] that ‘alternative fishing techniques’ to gillnet fishing will help avoid killing the last of the vaquitas. [But, by the way] ‘There is no alternative fishing gear’ being offered, said Lorenzo Rojas, a marine biologist who has headed the international committee to save the vaquita.

The Mexican government banned the use of gill nets in the area in 2017, with the understanding it would provide support payments and training on using less dangerous fishing methods.

[But, here’s the catch] The administration of President Andrés Manuel López has largely refused to spend money to compensate fishermen for staying out of the vaquita refuge and to stop using gill nets. The nets are set illegally to catch totoaba, a fish whose swim bladders are a delicacy in China worth thousands of dollars per pound. [Guess what, the totoaba is also critically endangered!]

[And] the Mexican government has not spent the money needed to train and compensate fishermen for using alternate fishing techniques such as nets or lines that won’t trap vaquitas.”

NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALES

The International Union for Conservation of Nature changed its Red List Category for North Atlantic right whales from "endangered" to "critically endangered." There are about 400 individuals remaining, and likely fewer than 100 breeding females. — NOAA Fisheries

North Atlantic right whales, mother and young (photo: NOAA Fisheries)

Here’s what Right Whale headlines should say:

Extermination of North Atlantic Right Whales Continues. World needs vast ocean sanctuary to save them.

But no! Instead, here’s a typical off-point headline:

Cause of whale deaths remains a debate as 11th whale found dead off NJ coast.

“How thousands of wind turbines in the mid-Atlantic, habitat for critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, may affect the species has become a routine topic of discussion as North Carolina gears up to become a potential source of offshore wind energy.”

PLEASE people, for the moment, can we put aside the annoyingly simple-minded, politically charged debate about offshore renewable energy development?

Wrong focus, full stop! The fact is that we’ve been killing North Atlantic right whales by slamming them with ships and, like the vaquitas, entangling them in fishing gear. Ocean noise pollution may interfere with their communications and otherwise stress out the whales. Climate change is of concern. Now comes the latest risk, offshore “wind development” to maybe lessen the climate change we’re causing. (How about reducing the consumption of energy? Duh, virtually no one thinks to ask!)

Home of the North Atlantic Right Whale (color shaded area, map by NOAA Fisheries)

Right Whale, Right Way. Pretty simple. Stop the genocide by ending most sea traffic and fishing in the path of right whales.

Such a gesture toward nature isn’t going to bring civilization down. But continuing such slaughter and perpetuating what’s clearly the Greatest Injustice of All Time will.

If the regular “news” you hear these days makes you sick, what you don’t hear could make you sicker. But the beast —our wayward society— is not going away. That is, unless we’re prepared for one helluva fight. And that’s the truth of which we speak.