Known totoaba traffickers have been among those receiving compensation. Additionally, while Mexico has attempted to increase on-water enforcement, the effort has been too small given the enormous ...

More expensive than cocaine? Yes, indeed, they call it the cocaine of the sea. More expensive than cocaine and many other ...

The fate of the vaquita has been inextricably entwined with yet another endangered Mexican species, the totoaba, a grouper-like fish that can grow up to six feet in length and weigh over 200 pounds.

PA Media An undated photo shows a dead vaquita porpoise entangled in a gillnet set for a totoaba Some had given up on saving the vaquita, thinking that even if the species could be protected from ...

In the heart of the Gulf of California, the totoaba stands as the world's priciest fish, with a price tag exceeding $8,000.

They're known to be shy and elusive — but all too easy to scoop up in fishing nets. The vaquita's numbers have plummeted from 200 in 2012. Their primary threat is entanglement in fishing gear, ...

The vaquita population has declined drastically, falling from nearly 600 in 1997 to fewer than 10 in 2024 because of entanglement in gillnets used for illegal fishing. These nets target shrimp and a ...

so totoaba fishing continues—as do the deaths of vaquitas as bycatch. In 2005 Mexico’s government made part of the gulf a vaquita refuge. But the population kept falling—from more than 200 ...

The vaquita has been nearly wiped out by gillnets used to fish for the also-endangered totoaba fish. The swim bladder of the totoaba is a delicacy in China and can fetch as much as $20,000 (£ ...

It is also the world’s most endangered marine mammal species. The biggest threat to the vaquita is the use of fishing nets that inadvertently catch and drown them, most notably gillnets used to ...