1/2 Tis the season (#totoaba spawning), time for a well-researched & presented article on swim bladder #BiologicalBitcoin & impact on #vaquita porpoise by @Fannymiranda26 in @Milenio incl interview @VFelbabBrown
Ray of hope from @PronaturaNoroes Valeria Towns "Huge difference..
x.com/Milenio/sta...
1/2 Maybe not a coincidence that the estuary north of San Felipe in the Core Zone of the Upper Gulf Biosphere Reserve is known @EarthLeagueInt to have been used for offloading poached #totoaba swim bladders (buche), & it's now high spring spawning season for the protected fish.
Commitments include monthly follow up meetings, a working group focused on the region's fishing economy, strengthened enforcement (esp in upcoming #totoaba season) & potential new anti-gillnet "blocks" northwest of ZTA (ZTC) where #vaquita (& calf!🔯) were seen in Sep 2025 survey
Like their croaker cousin Gulf curvina, #totoaba may be arriving earlier this year to spawn in #vaquita habitat. @PROFEPA_Mx reports securing two totoaba gillnets along with four shrimp nets January 23-25. The large mesh totoaba net pictured appears to be a washed up ghost net.
x.com/i/status/20...
Spring spawning cousin of the #totoaba, the Gulf curvina, arrived to #vaquita habitat early, first off San Felipe & now Santa Clara. The "recommendation not to catch it now" & wait for the quota & spring lunar tides when production is highest is not being respected. oem.com.mx/tribunadesan...
"At the same time, reporting highlights the increasing militarization of the oceans in response to illegal fishing, in this case, the illicit #totoaba trade."
x.com/CetaceanAct...
Mexico has codified environmental law enforcement support for @SEMARNAT_mx & @PROFEPA_Mx from the military - @SEMAR_mx & @Defensamx1 - interagency cooperation that has been pioneered for several years to protect #vaquita porpoise & #totoaba fish in the Upper Gulf of California
x.com/DOF_SEGOB/s...
1/2 Global Organized Crime Index @GI_TOC article on #totoaba trafficking ⬇️ to spotlight the steady increase in wildlife crime worldwide. Overall Mexico is third worst scoring countriy for all types of transnational organized crime & China has the worst score for fauna crime.
#Totoaba fish & #vaquita porpoise sculptures by conservation artist Jacha Potgieter made from recycled materials
Testimony from @BrookingsInst @VFelbabBrown before US Senate on Chinese organized crime in Latin America: its involvement in #totoaba poaching in #vaquita habitat began in early 2010 & intensified over next several years, a harbinger of what has emerged as a major regional crisis
1/3 Highlights of statements by Switzerland & UK @CITES #CITESCOP20 during the discussion in Samarkand today which agreed by consensus in Committee II the amended Decisions jointly proposed by the Mexico & the US on #vaquita #totoaba
x.com/ernesto_men...
Today @Cites #SC79 requested Mexico to fully achieve & report on its #vaquita #totoaba action plan to #SC81 (approx 1 year). US amendment for Secretariat to consider relevant info from other sources unnecessary as @Ben_J_v_R confirmed that Sec does so without explicit mention.
Mexico achieved most of its stated goals in its #vaquita #totoaba compliance action plan & Nov 23 @CITES #SC79 will decide a deadline. Alternative gear part is the most incomplete & challenging, but progress includes @IMIPASmex test plan for @pescaabc modified shrimp small trawl.
2/3 A reporter was served illegal #totoaba swim bladder soup in Mexicali's Chinatown, & a fisherman, asked how long it had been since he last hauled up an entangled #vaquita in his gillnet, replied "three days."
1/2 European Parliament has called on the @Cites Secretariat to issue a recommendation for Parties to suspend trade with Mexico for failing to complete its #vaquita #totoaba action plan but this position unlikely to find support from European Union & its members states' because
x.com/ernesto_men...
1/2 San Felipe beach boat ramp isn't listed as an official embarkation point in Mexico's 2020 gillnet ban regulation ("Agreement"). Mexico told @CITES legalization being considered but so far no change. In Nov Mexico reports to @CITES on #vaquita #totoaba action plan progress.
x.com/lavozfronte...
2/4 Many unknowns, esp on demand side for swim bladders in Asia. Conclusion that #totoaba poaching costs higher than farming is based on good but small sample in 2018 & seems implausible now. Fish farming has proven more technically challenging than shellfish aquaculture in Upper Gulf environment.
1/4 Good article with author interviews for economic modeling paper based on years of work by UCSB team incl @julawson.bsky.social & @simonjean.bsky.social et al- Farmed #totoaba could curb poaching through price competition.
Really? Mexico eager to promote community aquaculture in #vaquita habitat.
Farmed Totoaba May Reduce Poaching in Gulf of California
Researchers suggest legalizing farmed Totoaba could curb poaching; the swimbladder fetches up to $80,000 per kilogram and the program is backed by a $6 million annual Mexican subsidy. Read more: getnews.me/farmed-totoaba-may-reduc... #totoaba #vaquita
Three men arrested in Guadalajara in late September for illegal seafood, including 39 kg of dried #totoaba swim bladders, & other wildlife have been charged & are being held in preventative detention, acc to @ernesto-mendez.bsky.social reporting.
www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/cae...
2/3 @PROFEPA_Mx @mariana_boy & @BrookingsInst @VFelbabBrown on #totoaba swim bladder trafficking & Mexico's @CITES action plan
"Protecting #vaquita not only an environmental problem, it is fundamentally a matter of fighting criminal groups, incl transit & destination countries."
Satellite vessel monitoring equipment developed by @SEMAR_mx required under @CITES #vaquita #totoaba compliance action plan being installed on Santa Clara pangas (📷 @CarlosT12351108)
“With the Mexican Government’s continued failure to prevent illegal gillnet operations, time is running out before these unique animals take their final breaths.”
https://loom.ly/i37tBcQ
#Mexico #China #vaquita #porpoise #totoaba #fishing #illegalwildlifetrade
Seven years after issuance of a warrant for attempted smuggling of #totoaba swim bladders in name ID'd suitcases from Tijuana to Shanghai after flight cancelation, one of the three, a Chinese national "J" Li, arrested & placed under preventative pre-trial detention in Mexicali.
x.com/FGR_BC/stat...
Semarnat anuncia la #liberación de 40 mil crías de #totoaba en #BajaCaliforniaSur
La liberación de estos #peces forma parte de las acciones para #restaurar la población de totoaba, especie en estado de conservación vulnerable.
remedia.bio/index.php/20...
#Semarnat #México #Naturaleza #Mulegé
#Totoaba La acción forma parte de un esfuerzo conjunto entre Semarnat, la empresa Santomar y comunidades locales para recuperar esta especie en peligro de extinción.
www.nieveazul360.com/crias-de-tot...
I've had so much drawing and painting these endemic animals from Mexico: Teporingo (a type of bunny), Totoaba (let me just say it is sooo delicious), Tlacuache (opossum) and cacomixtle (it's like a tiny raccoon+squirrel+cat)
#teporingo #totoaba #tlacuache #cacomixtle #mexicananimals #watercolors
3 years after Mexico won @CITES approval for 1 of its #totoaba farms to export fish products not including swim bladder, the Senate approved amendments to Mex export law to allow it to take place - live or wild fish still banned as well as swim bladder.
x.com/homerodav/s...
