Will the vaquita (Phocoena sinus) be the next marine mammal to go extinct?
The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) is a porpoise species that lives in the northern part of the Gulf of California. In 2014, the total population dropped to below 100 individuals, and since the bajii / Chinese river dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer) is believed to have gone extinct, the vaquita became the most endangered marine mammal in the world.
Phocoena sinus. Image is by Paula Olson at NOAA, posted as Public Domain.
From 2014 to 2015 the population had a sharp 40 % reduction, leaving them at only 60 individuals. The next population count took place in November 2016, and again they had experienced a big loss, now having a population of only 30 individuals!
These numbers certainly show a trend, and at such low population numbers their chances of surviving are getting smaller by the day. Fishers are catching the vaquita in their bycatch, and this is the main reason their numbers are getting smaller all the time. At this point, with only 30 animals, their genetic pool is getting really low, and the chances of finding a mate in the wild is a lot less likely compared to when they were abundant. There is also a lot bigger chance of individuals that mate are related, which in time can lead to inbreeding depression among the entire species. These problems all lead to the species heading towards extinction, even if we are able to save the ones that are left in the wild.
This is an effect small population sizes often see just before extinction, and some scientists refer to these species as “the living dead”. This is used when there are still individuals in the wild, but they are in such low numbers that no one really believes they have any other fate than extinction.
Can the vaquita be saved from extinction?
The Mexican government has tried to save the species from extinction for years now, but since they are still killed as bycatch, their fate is looking grim. Restoring species that have such low numbers is also a very big challenge in itself, and the only “rescue” that could potentially save them would be if they had some more animals that were missing during the counting, which could be entirely possible due to the fact that it is difficult to estimate marine populations.
A captive breeding program is in its planning stage, scheduled to be started in October 2017. This might sound good, but many people fear that the species will already be extinct by that time. To complicate the matter more, no one knows for certain if the vaquitas will even breed in captivity, since this has never been done before. A third problem is the gene pool, which is still very low, but there is no way to increase this unless more individuals are found that are unrelated to the ones that are in the wild.
It is sad to admit, but the vaquita is going to become extinct very soon, and at this point it is probably too late to save them. If we want to conserve animal species, we need to begin the efforts earlier. I will be really happy if this prediction turns out to be wrong, but as I said, I am pretty sure this story will end in a sad way.
So, why am I posting about it if it is already too late? I believe that we should learn from both our conservation failures as well as successes, and learning about species that are about to be lost forever will help people wake up about all the threats that other species are facing at the moment, and maybe take a moment or two to look at their choices on the matter. It might be too late for this species, but there is still hope for others!
About the author
Hi, I’m @valth! I live in Norway with my girlfriend, our newborn son, and our two dogs, one of which is seen wearing a bow tie in the profile picture!
I am very passionate about nature and biology, and have been studying ecology for a few years now. My passions are mostly within conservation biology, mycology (the studies of mushrooms), animal behavior and general microbiology. I really enjoy both the theoretical aspect, as well as the more practical aspect of biology, and I spend about as much time in front of biology textbooks as I do spend on finding and identifying plant, mushroom and animal species in the forests.
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We often focus on the threatened land animals, but we have turned the seas into one big mash of plastic, mercury and other shit, and in the fluid environment it just keep getting mixed and brought from one part of the globe to the other.
Maybe it is just because I am a Dane, but I somehow feel very strongly for the sea.
Yea, we should really be more aware of the dangers the sea is facing! I think the main problem with the sea species that are endangered is the fact that we have problems to estimate numbers etc. The ocean is huge, and determining which species that are affected by our pollution is pretty challenging.
It's all depressing, but especially since, to the folks responsible for killing them, they just as bycatch. It's not a question of getting people to change some custom or belief. It's that people don't even care. Changing the method of harvesting fish could have helped, but no. Think of all the funds that will be used to try to handle a breeding program. If that amount could have been used as a dividend to the commercial fishing folks, whenever porpoise population counts increased, maybe the fisherman would care. I wish everyone lots of luck with the breeding program, though. Tough business.