Experts: Fewer than 30 vaquita porpoises remain

SCI-TECH

Experts: Fewer than 30 vaquita porpoises remain

The Associated Press Published Monday, February 6, 2017 9:49PM EST

According to a new report, the world鈥檚 most rare marine mammal is growing closer to extinction with a population drop of 50 per cent in the last year alone. (WWF/ Thomas A Jefferson)

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MEXICO CITY -- International experts studying Mexico's endangered vaquita porpoise have determined that fewer than 30 remain in the upper Gulf of California, the only place they live.

The experts and the Mexican government have drawn up plans to catch the few remaining vaquitas and enclose them in pens for protection and possible breeding.

The World Wildlife Fund says that is not the answer. The fund said Monday that "the only way to save the vaquita from extinction is for the Mexican government to immediately and indefinitely ban all fisheries within its habitat."

The WWF published a link to a study done in November by an international committee of experts that found vaquita numbers declined 90 per cent the last five years and estimating there are probably less than 30 now.