---
title: "ACUERDO por el que se suspende temporalmente la pesca comercial mediante el uso de redes de enmalle, cimbras y/o palangres operadas con embarcaciones menores, en el Norte del Golfo de California."
canonical: https://vaquita.mx/library/dof-2015-gillnet-suspension
updated: 2026-10-16T18:27:32Z
source: Generated from vaquita.mx
---

# ACUERDO por el que se suspende temporalmente la pesca comercial mediante el uso de redes de enmalle, cimbras y/o palangres operadas con embarcaciones menores, en el Norte del Golfo de California.

- Type: Law or regulation
- Authors: SEMARNAT and SAGARPA
- Published: 10 April 2015
- Published by: Diario Oficial de la Federación
- Language: Spanish
- Licence: Unknown
- Source: [https://dof.gob.mx/nota\_detalle.php?codigo=5388486&fecha=10/04/2015](https://dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=5388486&fecha=10/04/2015)
- Page: https://vaquita.mx/library/dof-2015-gillnet-suspension
- Topics: Gillnets & bycatch, Policy & enforcement, Conservation efforts

## Summary

This joint order of the environment and fisheries ministries suspended commercial fishing with gillnets, longlines and similar gear from small boats for two years in a defined area of the northern Gulf of California. The area has five corners and contains the Vaquita Refuge and part of the biosphere reserve. It came into force the day it was published, on 10 April 2015.

## Why it matters

The order cites a vaquita recovery committee (CIRVA-5) that recommended emergency regulations with a gillnet exclusion zone, and the suspension is the government's stated response. It was later extended and then replaced by a permanent ban.

## Key findings

- Art. 1 suspends gillnets and longlines in commercial fishing from small boats for two years from the day the order takes effect.
- The area is a polygon of five corners (annex vertices A to E, between about 30.095 and 31.703 degrees north) that holds the whole Vaquita Refuge.
- Exception: the curvina golfina fishery, 1 February to 30 April each year, with encircling gillnets of 14.6 cm mesh and at most 293 metres of net, or a hand line per fisher.
- The order cites the CIRVA-5 meeting (8 to 10 July 2014), which found the vaquita population sharply reduced and recommended emergency regulations with a gillnet exclusion zone.
- Enforcement falls to SEMARNAT through PROFEPA and to SAGARPA through CONAPESCA, coordinated with the Navy; the order is dated 19 March 2015.

## Caveats

The suspension was temporary and applied only to commercial fishing from small boats; it was extended three times before the permanent 2017 ban, according to the 2020 agreement's preamble. The body text prints the first longitude as -144.0228, a typo for -114.0228 that the annex table corrects.