Extinction alert issued for Mexico's threatened vaquita porpoise | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Monday
July 07, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
MONDAY, JULY 07, 2025
Extinction alert issued for Mexico's threatened vaquita porpoise

Offbeat

Reuters
09 August, 2023, 03:25 pm
Last modified: 09 August, 2023, 03:29 pm

Related News

  • World Ocean Day: Bangladesh’s ‘Silent Island’ provides a fisheries model for the future
  • Endangered Irrawaddy dolphin washes ashore on Kuakata beach
  • Most oil removed from decaying tanker off Yemen: UN
  • Nearly 100 pilot whales strand themselves on an Australian beach; half have died despite efforts
  • Drone hunting Aedes mosquitoes finds endangered Dhanesh, native parrot in Ctg

Extinction alert issued for Mexico's threatened vaquita porpoise

Reuters
09 August, 2023, 03:25 pm
Last modified: 09 August, 2023, 03:29 pm
FILE PHOTO: A mother and calf vaquita, a critically endangered small tropical porpoise native to MexicoÕs Gulf of California, surface in the waters off San Felipe, Mexico in this handout picture taken in 2008. Paula Olson/NOAA Fisheries/Handout via REUTERS/ File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A mother and calf vaquita, a critically endangered small tropical porpoise native to MexicoÕs Gulf of California, surface in the waters off San Felipe, Mexico in this handout picture taken in 2008. Paula Olson/NOAA Fisheries/Handout via REUTERS/ File Photo

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) said on Monday (7 August) it has issued an extinction alert for the endangered vaquita porpoise, whose population is estimated to have shrunk to less than a dozen, marking the institution's first-ever extinction warning.

The critically endangered vaquita, the world's smallest porpoise and native to Mexico's Gulf of California, has been imperilled by illegal gill net fishing for an endangered fish called the totoaba, whose bladder is highly valued in Asia.

Mexico's government has been under pressure to crack down on the practice.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

The IWC's scientific committee highlighted in a report an 83% drop in the vaquita's population between 2015 and 2018 to only nine or 10 of the marine animals in total.

The alert, the IWC said, stems from its belief that a new mechanism is needed "to voice extinction concerns for an increasing range of cetacean species and populations."

The institution, however, said it believes that full enforcement of the ban on gill netting in the animal's core habitat could give the vaquita "a chance of recovery."

"The extinction of the vaquita is inevitable unless 100% of gillnets are substituted immediately with alternative fishing gears that protect the vaquita and the livelihoods of fishers," it said.

In May, the US interior secretary declared that Mexico has failed to halt the illegal wildlife trade threatening the vaquita, but a trade embargo was ruled out by the US government in July.

endangered / Marine Life / Near-extinct

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • US President Donald Trump speaks to the press before boarding Air Force One as he departs for Iowa, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, July 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard
    Trump and US commerce secretary say tariffs are delayed until 1 August
  • NGO leaders from different Muslim countries pose for a photo with Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus at the state guest house Jamuna in Dhaka on 6 July 2025. Photo: CA Press Wing
    CA Yunus urges Islamic NGOs to take up social business to support Muslim world
  • Representational image/Collected
    Police arrest banned AL leader Imam Bhuiyan

MOST VIEWED

  • The release was jointly carried out by the Forest Department and the Chattogram Zoo authorities as part of an ongoing initiative to conserve wildlife and maintain ecological balance. Photo: Collected
    33 Python hatchlings born in Ctg zoo released into Hazarikhil sanctuary
  • A quieter scene at Dhaka University’s central library on 29 June, with seats still unfilled—unlike earlier this year, when the space was overwhelmed by crowds of job aspirants preparing for competitive exams. Photo: Tahmidul Alam Jaeef
    No more long queues at DU Central Library. What changed?
  • Ships and shipping containers are pictured at the port of Long Beach in Long Beach, California, US, 30 January 2019. Photo: REUTERS
    Bangladesh may offer zero-duty on US goods to get reciprocal tariff relief
  • File photo of a new NBR office in Agargaon, Dhaka. Photo: UNB
    NBR launches 'a-Chalan' for instant online tax payments
  • Customs bureaucracy: Luxury cars rot at Ctg port
    Customs bureaucracy: Luxury cars rot at Ctg port
  • Infograph: TBS
    How BB’s floating rate regime calms forex market

Related News

  • World Ocean Day: Bangladesh’s ‘Silent Island’ provides a fisheries model for the future
  • Endangered Irrawaddy dolphin washes ashore on Kuakata beach
  • Most oil removed from decaying tanker off Yemen: UN
  • Nearly 100 pilot whales strand themselves on an Australian beach; half have died despite efforts
  • Drone hunting Aedes mosquitoes finds endangered Dhanesh, native parrot in Ctg

Features

The Mitsubishi Xpander is built with families in mind, ready to handle the daily carpool, grocery runs, weekend getaways, and everything in between. PHOTO: Akif Hamid

Now made-in-Bangladesh: 2025 Mitsubishi Xpander

8h | Wheels
Students of different institutions protest demanding the reinstatement of the 2018 circular cancelling quotas in recruitment in government jobs. Photo: Mehedi Hasan

5 July 2024: Students announce class boycott amid growing protests

2d | Panorama
Contrary to long-held assumptions, Gen Z isn’t politically clueless — they understand both local and global politics well. Photo: TBS

A misreading of Gen Z’s ‘political disconnect’ set the stage for Hasina’s ouster

2d | Panorama
Graphics: TBS

How courier failures are undermining Bangladesh’s online perishables trade

2d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Karbala; one of the saddest and most tragic events in Islamic history

Karbala; one of the saddest and most tragic events in Islamic history

11h | TBS Stories
News of The Day, 06 JULY 2025

News of The Day, 06 JULY 2025

13h | TBS News of the day
Govt Service Ordinance: Compulsory retirement to replace dismissal for misconduct in govt job

Govt Service Ordinance: Compulsory retirement to replace dismissal for misconduct in govt job

14h | TBS Insight
Iran’s Khamenei makes first public appearance since war with Israel

Iran’s Khamenei makes first public appearance since war with Israel

16h | TBS World
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net