Mine Dolphins Help Save Sea Pandas

In the north of the Gulf of California there is a small mammal known as wakita ("vaquita"). From Spanish, this word translates as "little cow." A more official name is the California porpoise. You may have never heard of these sweet creatures before. Meanwhile, this species is on the verge of extinction: today there are only a few dozen individuals for which fishing nets pose a mortal danger. The authorities of Mexico and the United States want to use military dolphins to find vaccites and transport them to a safe place.

Random victims

Wakita - the smallest cetacean in the world - is only one and a half meters in length. They live in the northern parts of the Gulf of California on the site that separates California from Mexico. And today, these “sea pandas,” as they are called because of black circles under their eyes, are in great trouble. According to the census of the animal world at the beginning of 2017, only about 30 individuals of the vaccite can remain in nature.

They do not prey on the wakits themselves, but they nevertheless become victims of poachers. They fish in the local waters for catching rare fish, totoa, which is also on the verge of extinction. This fish is widely used in Chinese medicine; a medicinal soup is prepared from its swimming bladder, which supposedly helps to get pregnant.

In recent years, the demand for totoabu has increased dramatically. Poachers put gill nets on it, into which small vaccites fall. Since they, like all cetaceans, breathe oxygen, they die without the ability to rise to the surface.

In the photo: Totoaba and Wakita, caught in the network of fishermen, 1992 / Source: WWF

Although the Mexican government in the past tried to control the use of gill nets in this region, in 2015, even by imposing a two-year ban on them in most of the harbor, poachers continue the illegal fishing of totoaba, which affects the vaccites. According to the World Wildlife Fund, without further intervention, they may disappear as early as next year.

Hope for dolphins

Recently, Mexican authorities announced that they will take a number of measures to save these animals. Firstly, a permanent ban on fishing methods will be introduced, and secondly, dolphins trained by the US Navy will be called to help.

In the photo: One of the mine-seeker dolphins retrains to search for wakits.

Specially trained dolphins will look for California guinea pigs so that they can be taken to an area off the coast of San Felipe, where they will not be threatened by a network of poachers. According to project participants, dolphins who were trained to search for mines and rescue divers have already been retrained to track wakits.

Four dolphins will be released into the Gulf of California, which will work in conjunction with a boat and an airplane. When dolphins find wakita and signal this command, environmentalists will catch the animal and transport it to a safe place. Biologists hope that there they can continue to multiply and as a result will increase the population.