Claiming the director of Mexico’s National Commission of Aquaculture and Fisheries (Conapesca) has “deliberately hindered efforts to save the vaquita,” a critically endangered marine mammal, five environmental nonprofits called for his ouster this week at a press conference in Mexico City.
The Center for Biological Diversity, Comarino, Defenders of Wildlife, Greenpeace, and Teyeliz – all NGOs operating in Mexico – demanded the removal of Mario Aguilar as director of Conapesca, as well as the replacement of the president of Mexico’s National Institute of Fisheries (Inapesca).
“The negligence of Conapesca has had a negative impact on the survival of the vaquita and on the fishing communities of the Alto Golfo,” the groups said in a joint press release. “Instead of promoting the reconversion of fishing gear to alternatives that do not damage the vaquita, it delays permits for fishermen using more sustainable gear but authorizes the use of shrimp nets which are harmful to the porpoise.”
Scientists estimate that fewer than 30 vaquita – a small porpoise found only in the Northern Gulf of California – remain alive in the wild. The total is a 74 percent decrease from the total population in 2014 and a 95 percent decrease from 1972, according to the groups.
In addition to the replacement of the leaders of Conapesca and Inapesca, the NGOs are demanding that both groups be placed under the control of Mexico’s Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat). They also called for the development of a sustainable public fisheries policy “that includes communities and ensures the protection of our oceans and their resources so that situations similar to that of the vaquita do not repeat themselves.”
In May, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Animal Welfare Institute filed a petition with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) calling for the application of provisions in the Marine Mammal Protection Act on Mexican imports of seafood that may have resulted in the injury or death of vaquita. Specifically, the petition called for the ban on seafood caught with any type of gillnet in the northern Gulf of California – “the fishing gear solely responsible for the near extinction of the vaquita,” according to the petition.
“The MMPA…mandates the use of the United States’ considerable trade power to achieve conservation of marine mammals outside U.S. waters,” the groups wrote. “This provision is meant to provide a strong incentive for foreign fisheries to protect marine mammals from dangerous fishing activities. Unfortunately, over the past decades the U.S. government has been promoting the exact opposite result for vaquita by allowing imports of shrimp, corvina, and other fish and fish products from fisheries engaging in activities that have driven the vaquita to near-extinction.”
Earlier this month, NOAA published a notice initiating public comment on the petition, a period scheduled to run through 21 September.
In a statement sent to SeafoodSource, Gavin Gibbons, a spokesperson for the National Fisheries Institute, a trade group representing the U.S. seafood industry, said the NFI has “significant concerns” regarding “this overly broad petition” to ban seafood from Mexico.
“Our members are involved in fisheries in Mexico that do not impact vaquita, yet could still be banned from bringing their catch to the U.S. if the petition were granted,” Gibbons said in an email. “Our members have worked to encourage Mexico to fully enforce its ban on gillnetting by boats of any size in the Gulf of California vaquita protection zone, including those with even a remote chance of interacting with the vaquita. They have and continue to support adoption of vessel monitoring systems on all vessels operating in the upper Gulf of California.”
Illegal poaching of the totoaba – another endangered species highly sought out in Asia – is primarily to blame for the demise of the vaquita, Gibbons said, and NFI has encouraged the government of China to review “steps it could and should take to stop the trade of illegally caught totoaba from the upper Gulf of California.”
“NFI member companies who are actively engaged in and committed to advancing conservation efforts to protect the vaquita would be the ones hurt by this ban, not the pirates responsible for the violations that so negatively impact the vaquita,” Gibbons said.
If an import ban were enacted, it could result in the loss of more than 12,000 jobs in the United States, Gibbons said.
“The U.S. imports over 71,000 metric tons of seafood from Mexico on an annual basis. The requested ban would severely disrupt U.S. workers who process and sell those products in America and would have a direct, adverse impact on dozens of companies,” Gibbons said. “A ban would harm not only U.S. importers, processors and distributors but cooks, wait staff, longshoremen and drivers, not to mention consumers while doing nothing to enhance on-going efforts to eliminate harmful fishing practices.”
