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Prof with a Porpoise
Northeast Consortium鈥檚 Christopher Glass leads World Wildlife Foundation committee to save endangered vaquita
Thursday, August 11, 2016
The vaquita (Phocoena sinus), with its signature dark eye ring, is critically endangered. Photo by Thomas A. Jefferson, from the joint investigation project with the Coordinaci贸n de Investigaci贸n y Conservaci贸n de Mam铆feros Marinos of the Instituto Nacional de Ecolog铆a (INE). Image taken under the permit No. DR7488708 from the Comisi贸n Nacional de 脕reas Naturales Protegidas (CONANP), SEMARNAT.
Chris Glass wouldn鈥檛 blame you if you鈥檝e never heard of the . The small porpoise is so secretive that it wasn鈥檛 discovered as a species until 1958. Plus, there are only about 60 of them in existence, all in the upper Gulf of California, making the vaquita the world鈥檚 most rare marine mammal.
![swimming vaquita](/unhtoday/sites/default/files/media/vaquita.jpg")
Last month Glass, director of the and a research professor in 91制片厂鈥檚 , was tapped to lead an international committee of experts committed to saving the vaquita by improving fishing techniques. His appointment, announced by Mexico鈥檚 National Institute of Fisheries and the World Wildlife Fund, follows a by President Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to protect the vaquita.
鈥淲e need to develop ways that fishermen can continue to earn a living without endangering the vaquita,鈥� Glass says. 鈥淢y work has been based on reducing bycatch and discard in global fisheries, developing ways we can catch what we want to catch and promote sustainable fishing practices, and release everything else untouched underwater.鈥�
鈥淲e need to develop ways that fishermen can continue to earn a living without endangering the vaquita.鈥�
Gillnets, nearly invisible fine nets that entangle and capture target fish, are by far the largest threat to the vaquita, who get trapped and, as mammals, drown. Mexico has made a two-year ban on gillnets permanent, so Glass and his committee aim to improve vaquita-safe fishing technology to support shrimp and other fisheries in the upper Gulf of California.
The presidential agreement will also put teeth into a crackdown on illegal gillnet fishing of another endangered species, the totoaba, whose swim bladder is prized in Chinese herbal medicine. 鈥淭he illegal fishing has been rampant,鈥� says Glass. 鈥淚nternational trade in totoaba has been banned for a number of years, but fishermen receive $4000 per pound of swim bladder, equivalent to half a year鈥檚 salary for legal fishing.鈥�
While Glass says he鈥檚 honored and excited to chair this committee of international experts, the work is sobering. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a double-edged sword,鈥� he admits, noting that the vaquita鈥檚 population numbers have plummeted by one-third in just two years. 鈥淚f we鈥檙e not successful, it鈥檚 pretty devastating. But if we do reduce bycatch and discard to zero, I think there鈥檚 hope.鈥�
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Written By:
Beth Potier | 91制片厂 Marketing | beth.potier@unh.edu | 2-1566
