Summary
This is the 2022 Red List assessment of the vaquita, which places the species in the Critically Endangered category under criteria A2a, C1+2a(ii), D and E. The assessors give a best estimate of about 10 animals in 2018, down from 567 in 1997, and name entanglement in gillnets as the threat that has not stopped. The page also records the status history, from Vulnerable in 1986 and 1988 through Endangered in 1990 and 1994 to Critically Endangered since 1996.
Why it matters
The Red List is the international reference for a species' conservation status, and this assessment sets out the numbers behind the Critically Endangered listing in one place. It also gathers the survey and acoustic estimates from 1997 to 2018 with their uncertainty.
Key findings
- Category: Critically Endangered A2a; C1+2a(ii); D; E (version 3.1), assessed 2 March 2022.
- 2018 estimate: posterior mean 9 (median 8, 95% credible interval 6 to 19); 1997 estimate: 567 (95% CI 177 to 1,073); a decline of 98% over about 20 years.
- Acoustic monitoring from 2011 to 2018 estimated a decline of 45% a year (95% credible interval 38% to 53%).
- Since 2018 nearly all detections are inside the Zero Tolerance Area, so the area of occupancy is closer to about 300 km² than the earlier 2,500 km².
- Gillnet mortality is the main threat; the genome shows low diversity from being naturally rare (2,000 to 5,000 animals) over about 300,000 years.
Caveats
The 2018 figure is an estimate with a wide credible interval, and the assessors describe the total as thought to be around 10. The page was written in 2022, so it does not include later survey results.