On that note, check out Aquarium of the Pacific’s “storied seafood” page, where they also have a great set of resources about the vaquita:

http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/seafoodfuture/storiedseafood

Great comment – there is definitely interest in “blue market” approaches to develop vaquita-safe products. And it’s great to hear that you would be a willing consumer!

At this point, it’s a bit too late for these approaches to save vaquita this time around – that is, these approaches take time. if the efforts to save vaquita via captivity, and someday reintroduce them, are successful, then it would be fantastic to have this project developed. I’d love to see something like this not only for vaquita, but for sustainable fisheries in general in the Upper Gulf – this could support improved livelihoods as well as improved fisheries management, and could also be a source of money to support the costs of keeping vaquita in captivity.

Ah! Another point: the current status of the totoaba is unknown, though the official status is Critically Endangered. A population assessment is a research priority for the area, and many of our interviewees expressed strong interest in this.

There currently are small-scale aquaculture operations, mainly at a university in Ensenada (UABC), where Dr. Conal True has developed great plans for expanding aquaculture operations to the communities of the Upper Gulf. Due to certain laws related to the breeding of endangered species, a certain percentage of these captive-bred totoaba must be released into the wild, which is tricky because at this point it is essentially resupplying an illegal fishery.

Thanks for the comment, EUB!

To your first question: Candidly, I do not know. I believe that the demand for this species’ swim bladder jumped up when another species (yellow croaker) that was exploited for its swim bladder decreased. Here’s a link with more info: https://qz.com/468358/how-chinas-fish-bladder-investment-craze-is-wiping-out-species-on-the-other-side-of-the-planet/

I love your idea for donations aimed at helping communities as well as vaquita! I think campaigns aimed along these lines could have been hugely helpful in the earlier stages of this conservation story. It would have been interesting to see if donors or funding sources could leverage their funding to encourage conservation groups, for example, to link with social support NGOs. At this point, it’s down to last-ditch, emergency efforts for the vaquita, but this model would be fantastic for other sites, and also good to think about for long-term conservation in the Upper Gulf (especially if any vaquita are successfully captured and if there is any hope of someday reintroducing them into the gulf)

Thank you, Wyatt – I appreciate that! Yes, we did not delve too deeply into the totoaba trade side of things. With this cross-border trade, there needs to be cooperation among the US, China, and Mexico along various topics, including enforcement of cartels.

And, of course, the US has consumed seafood responsible for vaquita bycatch (first, totoaba meat, then shrimp), so you could say that US consumers and various purveyors of seafood also bear responsibility!

Dear Tim,

As Wyatt mentions, the totoaba fish is listed as Critically Endangered – it used to be fished for its meat, driving it toward extinction. In fact, this fishery was an earlier threat to the vaquita, before the fishery was shut down due to the overexploitation of the totoaba, Fisheries then shifted largely to shrimp and only later has this illegal fishery for totoaba swim bladders significantly expanded.

I also agree that we need to be careful passing judgments on people existing in different social, economic, and cultural contexts, and that change will likely come more effectively through clear and compassionate communication versus antagonistic conflict.

Tim, yes the Totoaba is critically endangered and the fishery for it is illegal, that’s why it is run by the cartels.

“Would it be crazy for donors to subscribe like “$1 per vaquita, annually” to go to programs benefiting the fishermen and people who live in the area?”

You should build an app for that! I would support it.

(As a person of Chinese heritage…) I had a relative recently come back from Mexico, providing gifts of swim bladders. At the time, the thought running through my head was, “what an odd place to acquire swim bladders”. She said the quality was quite high, but beyond that, I don’t know what makes it special. And to be clear, I don’t think anything in the article says that the fish themselves are endangered…just that the method of catching them affects an endangered bycatch species.

I do want to thank Dr. Whitty for her thoughtful elaboration of conservation efforts in foreign lands. As keyboard environmentalists, it’s easy to vilify foreigners cultural or economic decisions. But I liken that to a foreigner selecting a cultural decision westerners make (buying large fuel-chugging vehicles for example) and passing judgement on that. Sure, there might be some truth to the judgement, but the issue is much more complex than the news headline.