Why Is the Vaquita Almost Extinct? The Rarest Porpoise

What is a vaquita?

The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) is the smallest living whale, dolphin or porpoise. Adults are only about 1.2–1.5 m (4–5 ft) long and weigh about 30–55 kg (65–120 lb), and females are a little larger than males. It is a close cousin of the harbor porpoise, with the same blunt head and spade-shaped teeth, but it has a taller dorsal fin and striking dark rings around its eyes and dark patches on its lips.

Scientists first described the vaquita in 1958 from skulls found on beaches, and a full description of the living animal was not possible until 1985. It is shy, avoids motorboats and is usually seen alone or in pairs. It lives in shallow, murky water in the far north of the Gulf of California, where it hunts small fish, squid and shrimp. No other marine mammal has such a small range. For more on how porpoises differ from dolphins, see dolphin vs porpoise.

How fast did the vaquita decline?

Nobody knows how many vaquitas lived before modern fishing began. Since the first complete survey in 1997, scientists have tracked the decline with ship surveys and underwater microphones that record the porpoises’ clicks.

The first fall, between 1997 and 2008, came mainly from legal gillnet fishing for shrimp and fish. The crash after 2011 was even faster. As illegal fishing for totoaba surged, NOAA Fisheries estimates that the vaquita population fell by close to half every year.

Gillnets and the totoaba trade

A gillnet is a wall of fine mesh that hangs in the water and catches fish by the gills. Vaquitas cannot see it in the murky water, swim into it, become tangled and drown, because like all cetaceans they must reach the surface to breathe. Studies show that vaquitas die in every type of gillnet used in the area, but large-mesh nets set for totoaba are the deadliest, because the fish and the porpoise are similar in size.

The totoaba (Totoaba macdonaldi) is the largest member of the drum family, reaching about 2 m (6.6 ft). Commercial fishing for it was banned in Mexico in 1975, and international trade has been banned under CITES since 1977. Demand did not disappear. The fish’s dried swim bladder, an air-filled organ, is smuggled to China and Hong Kong, where it is prized in soups and traditional remedies. According to NOAA Fisheries, fishers can be paid up to about $8,500 per kilogram, and the bladders sell for much more by the end of the chain. Organized crime groups control much of the trade.

Why can’t vaquitas bounce back?

Vaquitas breed slowly. Females mature at about 3–6 years, pregnancy lasts 10–11 months and they usually give birth to a single calf every one to two years, mostly between February and April. When nets kill more animals each year than are born, the population can only shrink.

Many people also worried that so few vaquitas would suffer from inbreeding. A 2022 study of vaquita genomes, published in Science, found the opposite: vaquitas have always lived in small numbers, carry few harmful mutations and are still healthy. The researchers’ computer models showed the species has a good chance of recovering if gillnet deaths stop completely. The problem is the nets, not the vaquitas themselves.

What is being done to save the vaquita?

Mexico has taken many steps since the 1990s. It created a biosphere reserve in the upper Gulf of California and the Colorado River Delta in 1993 and a vaquita refuge in 2005. From 2008 it paid fishers to give up gillnets or switch to safer gear. In 2015 the government announced a two-year emergency gillnet ban across vaquita habitat with compensation for fishers, and in 2017 gillnets were banned permanently in the area, apart from two small fisheries.

Enforcement has been the weak point, and illegal fishing has continued. Since 2020 a small “zero tolerance” zone in the core habitat has been closed to all fishing. In 2022 the Mexican Navy began sinking concrete blocks with metal hooks on the seabed there, which snag and destroy nets, and the number of fishing boats in the zone dropped quickly. Conservation groups such as Sea Shepherd work with the navy to find and remove illegal nets, and since 2020 the United States has banned imports of seafood caught in vaquita habitat.

Is there still hope for the vaquita?

Surprisingly, yes. Recent surveys show that the last vaquitas are healthy, that they still have calves, and that most live inside or close to the protected zone. In 2025 observers identified about 7–10 individuals, including new calves. A survival this long, with so few animals, shows how resilient the species could be.

The lesson from China’s Yangtze River is a warning, though. The baiji, a river dolphin, was declared probably extinct after a 2006 survey failed to find a single animal, largely because of fishing gear. The vaquita, listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN since 1996, can only survive if gillnets are removed from its tiny home for good. Learn about other species on the edge in our list of the rarest animals in the world and our guide to endangered animals.