Mexico faces fines for not protecting the endangered harbor porpoise.

Mexico admitted on Saturday it faces fines from the international wildlife agency CITES for not doing enough to protect the port from the vaquita, a small porpoise that is the world's most endangered marine mammal. 

 

 Sanctions have not yet been announced but  could make it more difficult for Mexico to export some regulated animal and plant products such as crocodile or snake skins, orchids and cacti. Commercial seafood such as shrimp would not be affected, but the decision sets a precedent as some groups push for a seafood import ban. for biodiversity. "We hope that these strong measures will wake up the Mexican government.

 

 Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Relations  said in a statement that CITES considered Mexico's conservation plan for the vaquita to be inadequate. 

 

 Research estimates that there may be only eight vaquitas left in the Gulf of California, the only place they live and where they often become entangled in illegal gillnets and drown. 

 

 The Ministry of External Relations  said CITES considered the conservation plan "inadequate" and said the full decision - and possible sanctions - "will be made official next week". 

 

 The ministry defined the decision as "unequal treatment of our country because it did not take into account the numerous and complex measures that were taken". 

 

 Mexico recently submitted a revised conservation plan to CITES after the agency rejected an earlier version.Mexico's plan cites the introduction of "alternative fishing techniques" to gillnetting as one of its top priorities. In reality, however, government conservation efforts have been patchy at best, and  often met with fierce opposition from local fishermen. 

 

  President Andrés Manuel López's government has largely refused to spend money to compensate fishermen abandoned outside the vaquita sanctuary and to stop the use of gillnets. Nets are being set up illegally to catch totoaba, a fish whose swim bladder is a delicacy in China worth thousands of dollars a kilo. 

 

 The government has also poured concrete blocks with hooks to install illegal nets in the final stretch of the Gulf, also known as the Sea of ​​Cortes - where  vaquitas have been sighted.

 

 The Sea Shepherd activist group, which has joined the Mexican Navy in patrolling to deter  fishermen and assisting in the destruction of gillnets, says these efforts have been successful in reducing gillnet fishing. But with so few vaquitas left, that might not be enough. Additionally, experts say the Mexican government has not spent the money needed to train and compensate fishermen who use alternative fishing techniques, such as nets or lines, that fail to catch vaquitas. 

 

 "There is no other fishing gear," said Lorenzo Rojas, a marine biologist who led the international rescue committee for Vaquita. "The fisheries authorities were notable for their absence," leaving efforts to change practices  to community groups and fishermen.