Status: Completed
Operational Plan: 2009
PROJECT
The purpose of this project is to support Mexico’s recovery strategy for this species and to steward the implementation of a North American Conservation Action Plan (NACAP), to eliminate incidental bycatch of vaquita.
Launched in 2008, the Vaquita NACAP supports Mexico’s significant commitment of financial and other resources towards accomplishment of its conservation and socio-economic goals related to the recovery of this species.
The vaquita is the world’s smallest and most endangered marine cetacean, and its current distribution range is the most limited with its total population estimated at only about 150 individuals. It is in critical danger of extinction, primarily due to incidental mortality in entangling nets.
The purpose of this project is to support Mexico’s recovery strategy for the vaquita by facilitating trinational cooperation and the implementation of the North American Conservation Action Plan (NACAP) for this species.
Although the vaquita is found only in Mexican waters, Canada and the United States are rendering their efforts and their established know-how in the recovery of species, to forge an alliance to eliminate bycatch and promote sustainable livelihoods.
The NACAP provides an outlook on the species, an updated account of its situation, the main factors causing its mortality, and the cooperative conservation actions to be taken.
The following are some of the most important activities of the project:
Some of the desired outcomes of the project include:
All aspects of this project are designed to be completed in 2009. It is expected that the lessons learned by the implementation of this and other marine NACAPs will allow the Parties to continue working together, using this as a framework for targeted collaborative actions.