CEC Publishes Factual Record on the Effective Enforcement of Environmental Law Related to Submission SEM-21-002 (Vaquita Porpoise)
Tiohtià:ke (Montreal), 19 August 2025 — On August 18 the Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) published the factual record regarding submission SEM-21-002 (Vaquita Porpoise) filed on 11 August 2021 by the Center for Biological Diversity, Animal Welfare Institute, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Environmental Investigation Agency (“Submitters”), who asserted that Mexico is failing to effectively enforce its environmental laws with regard to conservation of the vaquita porpoise (Phocoena sinus).
According to the Submitters, Mexico is failing to effectively enforce the General Wildlife Act (Ley General de Vida Silvestre—LGVS) and its regulation (the “LGVS Regulation”), and various administrative orders aimed at protecting the vaquita porpoise, a species that is critically endangered due to the direct impacts of illegal fishing of totoaba (Totoaba macdonaldi) in Mexico’s Upper Gulf of California (UGC).
On 26 June 2024, CEC Council members instructed the Secretariat to prepare this factual record, specifically covering the effective enforcement of the following provisions: (1) Article 55 of the LGVS, in relation to measures put into place to effectively enforce this Article in the context of illegal traffic of Totoaba; (2) Article 56 of the LGVS Regulation, in relation to measures put in place to effectively enforce this article in the context of illegal traffic in Totoaba; (3) the 1975 Totoaba Fishing Ban, in relation to measures taken to effectively enforce the ban, and (4) the 2020 Gillnets Order, in relation to measures taken to effectively enforce the Order.
The factual record provides information about the vaquita porpoise, the world’s smallest cetacean and the most endangered marine mammal, as well as the totoaba, a schooling marine fish whose habitat partially overlaps with that of the vaquita porpoise. Using acoustic monitoring data and advanced statistical methods to estimate the size of the population, researchers estimate that the vaquita population declined by about 99 percent from 1997 to 2018. In 2018, it was estimated that fewer than 19 individuals remained, with a probability greater than 99 percent that the population was declining at an average rate exceeding 33 percent per year from 2011 to 2018 (a greater reduction than the 7.6 percent annual rate of decline between 1997 and 2008). Mexico maintains that the trend observed in the Zero Tolerance Area (Z0), located inside the Vaquita Refuge Area (VRA), indicates that between 2021 and 2023 the population decreased at a rate of -0.15 percent, a decline lower than the estimate for 2011-2018. The analysis conducted in the Z0 in 2022 showed a progressive increase in the rate of acoustic encounters per day, likely as a result of the installation of anti-trawl devices that discourage the use of gillnets and contribute to preventing their presence in the Z0. The most recent visual monitoring efforts, carried out in 2024, suggest that there is a minimum of between six and eight vaquitas in the area where studies have been conducted in recent years, an area 12 percent smaller than the VRA.
The vaquita porpoise is very similar in size to the totoaba, and the two species share habitats and range (the Colorado River delta and the UGC). These two factors make the vaquita porpoise particularly susceptible to being caught in the gillnets used to catch totoaba. The rapid collapse of the vaquita population during several decades demonstrates the impact of illegal totoaba fishing, which intensified in early 2010 with a corresponding steep decline in the vaquita population. Coveted for its swim bladder, the totoaba is targeted for poaching and illicit trade in the Chinese market.
The vaquita porpoise is vulnerable to bycatch in gillnets used for fishing various species, including those used in illegal fishing for totoaba. LGVS Article 55 provides that any import, export, or re-export of specimens, parts, and derivatives of wild species included in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) must adhere to CITES, the LGVS, and any provisions flowing from them. Article 56 of the LGVS Regulation provides that any import, export, or re-export of biological material from species included in CITES must also adhere to the Convention. Both the vaquita porpoise and the totoaba are listed in CITES Appendix I, and trade of wild specimens on the international market is subject to particularly strict regulations, which include the possibility of international trade in specimens from captive breeding in facilities registered with the CITES Secretariat.
The totoaba has also been subject to protection. The “1975 Totoaba Fishing Ban” was promulgated to establish a closed season for the totoaba. The “2020 Gillnets Order” permanently bans all gillnets within a circumscribed area of the UGC, including the Z0 and VRA.
From information collected by the CEC Secretariat from a wide variety of sources, fishing restrictions and protective measures taken within the Z0 have had a highly positive impact, effectively eliminating illegal fishing within the Z0. However, according to the information obtained from multiple sources by the CEC Secretariat, illegal fishing activities, including the use of gillnets in the UGC continue outside the Z0 despite established restrictions.
Mexico has reported that from 2022 to September 2024, marine inspection patrols increased from 166 to 278, while land-based patrols increased from 190 to 409, with a 50 percent increase in personnel dedicated to these patrols in the Z0 and VRA. From July 2023 to 30 September 2024, there were 5,191 boat inspections at sites authorized for fishing activities under the 2020 Gillnets Order, giving rise to 29 administrative decisions that imposed penalties for fisheries-related offenses.
The Ministry of the Navy (Secretaría de Marina—Semar or Marina) has been conducting round-the-clock surface radar monitoring since 2023, using ocean patrol vessels, as well as the support of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship, the Sea Horse, specifically working out of the San Felipe, Baja California naval sector. With the goal of ensnaring gillnets and deterring their placement in the Z0 and in the “extended area” adjacent to the Z0, Marina has placed 409 net prevention devices (concrete blocks with steel hooks) in the area to intercept nets in that part of the UGC between October 2022 and August 2024.
Since 2024, the National Aquaculture and Fisheries Commission (Comisión Nacional de Acuacultura y Pesca—Conapesca), along with fishing communities, has carried out a registration and update process for the registries of accredited fishermen active in the UGC, and is developing a process with Semar to install a satellite monitoring system on smaller vessels in the region. Mexico states that between April 2023 and September 2024, Conapesca received 233 fishing permit applications, 121 of which gave rise to permits for the use of alternative fishing gear and systems. The CEC Secretariat was unable to confirm whether fishermen are indeed using the authorized alternative fishing gear.
The socio-environmental factors related to illegal totoaba fishing and vaquita porpoise bycatch in the UGC are complex. There is organized criminal trafficking of totoaba swim bladders, and there also are local fishing organizations requesting to revise the 2020 Gillnets Order to reduce the gillnet exclusion zone to allow this type of fishing in areas outside the area of greatest historical concentration of the vaquita marina as well as to support initiatives to enable the development of other fishing methods and mariculture of various species. The fishing cooperatives call for studies to be conducted to understand the current status of the totoaba, so that options for the legal, regulated and sustainable use of this species can be evaluated.
USMCA/CUSMA Article 24.28(7) directs the Environment Committee to consider the final factual record in light of the objectives of Chapter 24 and states that the Committee may provide recommendations to the CEC Council on whether the matter raised in the factual record could benefit from international cooperative activities.
The full text of the factual record, including background information on the submission is available on the Public Registry of Submissions page for SEM-21-002 (Vaquita Porpoise) on the CEC website. Mexico may provide updates on the final factual record in accordance with USMCA/CUSMA Article 24.28(8).
The CEC SEM Process
The CEC Submissions on Enforcement Matters process supports public participation, information-sharing between governments and the public, and transparency and openness in the effective enforcement of environmental law in North America. If you have reason to believe that an environmental law is not being effectively enforced by Canada, Mexico or the United States, the SEM process may address your concerns.
As of 1 July 2020, the CEC’s SEM process is governed by USMCA Articles 24.27 and 24.28 of the Environment Chapter of the free trade agreement between Canada, Mexico and the United States (CUSMA, T-MEC, USMCA).
Want to learn more about the SEM process? Please watch this two-minute video for an introduction: