Action Program for the Conservation of the Species: Vaquita (Phocoena sinus). Comprehensive Strategy for Sustainable Management of Marine and Coastal Resources in the Upper Gulf of California (PACE-Vaquita)

Summary

PACE-Vaquita is Mexico's February 2008 action program for the vaquita, written for the Upper Gulf of California. It reviews earlier protection measures, including the 2005 Refuge Area, and sets goals and actions through 2012 to end bycatch in gillnets and trammel nets. The plan relies on enforcement together with voluntary waivers of net fishing rights, compensation and alternative fishing gear.

Why it matters

It shows what Mexico planned for the vaquita in 2008, when the population was thought to be about 150, and gives the history of protection measures from 1955 onward. Later CIRVA reports and laws can be read against these commitments.

Key findings

1. 01 The Refuge Area (DOF 8 September 2005) covers 1,263.77 km², which holds 78.16% of vaquita records over three decades and is 0.36% of the Gulf of California's marine area.
2. 02 Jaramillo et al. (2007) estimated the vaquita population in 2007 might be around 150, and CIRVA's 1997 estimate was 567.
3. 03 Phase I of the plan is to eliminate trammel and gillnets in the Refuge Area, and Phase II is to eliminate them across the whole distribution area.
4. 04 Planned tools include auctions for voluntary waiver of net fishing licences, with the retired licences kept from other fishers.
5. 05 INAPESCA began testing suripera nets in 2007 as a vaquita-safe shrimp gear.

Caveats

The document is a plan with target dates through 2012, so it does not show what was carried out. It was written in 2008, and its population figure of about 150 is far above later estimates.