Statement in Response to US/Mexico’s Renewed Commitment to Imperiled Vaquita

Release Date:

July 22, 2016

Washington, DC—

Animal Welfare Institute, Center for Biological Diversity, and the Natural Resources Defense Council make the following statement regarding President Obama and President Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico’s commitments on the imperiled vaquita, announced today http://bit.ly/2a6uP2R:

The United States and Mexico have renewed their commitment to save the vaquita, which couldn’t come at a more desperate time, with fewer than 60 of these small Mexican porpoises left on Earth. We are greatly encouraged by Mexico’s stated commitment to permanently ban all gillnets in all fisheries throughout the vaquita’s entire range – a step scientists have long recommended to stop vaquita from becoming entangled in Mexican fishing nets. But to truly save the vaquita, the Mexican government must go beyond policy pronouncements and commit financing, staff, and political will from the highest level to ensure that ban is fully and diligently enforced on the water. The vaquita’s very existence is at stake.