---
title: "A field effort to capture critically endangered vaquitas Phocoena sinus for protection from entanglement in illegal gillnets"
canonical: https://vaquita.mx/library/rojas-bracho-2019-vaquitacpr
updated: 2026-10-16T18:27:32Z
source: Generated from vaquita.mx
---

# A field effort to capture critically endangered vaquitas Phocoena sinus for protection from entanglement in illegal gillnets

- Type: Research paper, peer reviewed
- Authors: L. Rojas-Bracho, F. M. D. Gulland, C. R. Smith, B. Taylor, R. S. Wells, P. O. Thomas, B. Bauer, M. P. Heide-Jørgensen, J. Teilmann, R. Dietz, J. D. Balle, M. V. Jensen, M. H. S. Sinding, A. Jaramillo-Legorreta, G. Abel, A. J. Read, A. J. Westgate, K. Colegrove, F. Gomez, K. Martz, R. Rebolledo, S. Ridgway, T. Rowles, C. E. van Elk, J. Boehm, G. Cardenas-Hinojosa, R. Constandse, E. Nieto-Garcia, W. Phillips, D. Sabio, R. Sanchez, J. Sweeney, F. Townsend, J. Vivanco, J. C. Vivanco and S. Walker
- Published: 11 January 2019
- Journal: Endangered Species Research 38: 11-27
- Language: English
- Licence: CC BY
- DOI: [10.3354/esr00931](https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00931)
- Source: [https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/65249](https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/65249)
- Page: https://vaquita.mx/library/rojas-bracho-2019-vaquitacpr
- Topics: Gillnets & bycatch, Totoaba trade, Conservation efforts

## Summary

This paper describes VaquitaCPR, the 2017 emergency attempt to catch vaquitas and hold them in protected care while illegal gillnets were still in their habitat. Over 11 field days between 13 October and 4 November 2017, the team caught two vaquitas. A juvenile female was released within hours because it showed signs of stress, and an adult female died of capture myopathy on the day of capture, so the program was suspended.

## Why it matters

It records what was tried when the population had fallen below 30 animals, and why the capture approach was stopped. The authors use the result to argue for acting earlier, while there is time for phased, precautionary steps.

## Key findings

- The effort involved 90 experts from 9 countries and cost US$5 million.
- Field work covered 11 full or partial days from 13 October to 4 November 2017; vaquitas were sighted on 8 days and caught on 2.
- The first vaquita (18 October, juvenile female) was released within hours because of stress; the second (4 November, adult female) died on the day of capture.
- The program was suspended because of the risk of further deaths in the remaining population.
- Reported population sizes: 567 in 1997, 245 in 2008, 60 in 2015 and 30 in 2016 (citing Thomas et al. 2017).

## Caveats

Two animals were caught, so the paper cannot show whether capture and temporary care could work for vaquitas in general. The population figures in the introduction are quoted from earlier work, and the 2015 figure of 60 was later revised upward (Jaramillo-Legorreta et al. 2019).

## Original abstract (English)

In 2017 an emergency field effort was undertaken in an attempt to prevent the extinction of the world’s most endangered marine mammal, the vaquita Phocoena sinus. The rescue effort involved 90 experts from 9 countries and cost US$ 5 million. Following a long decline due to entanglement in legal gillnet fisheries, the vaquita population had fallen from more than 200 to fewer than 30 individuals from 2008 to 2016, due to entanglement in an illegal gillnet fishery that supplies swim bladders of the endangered totoaba Totoaba macdonaldi to Chinese black markets. An emergency ban of gillnets and increased enforcement failed to slow the decline, triggering an emergency effort to catch vaquitas and place them under protection in captivity. Two animals were targeted and captured using light gill nets; a juvenile was released 4 h later because it appeared stressed, and an adult female died of capture myopathy. The program was suspended because of the risk of additional mortalities to the population. The lack of success in capturing vaquitas for temporary protection emphasizes the need to improve our understanding of the effects of chase, capture, handling and enclosure on cetaceans, and to consider intervention before populations reach critically low levels, when there is sufficient time to use phased, precautionary approaches. Furthermore, conservation approaches focused on single species must be integrated into broader efforts to conserve ecosystems and involve the human communities that depend on them.