Swamp Stomp
Volume 17, Issue 24
In an unusual combination, the Mexican government, tycoon Carlos Slim and U.S. actor Leonardo DiCaprio announced on Wednesday, June 7, 2017, that they are teaming up and have created a plan to protect a tiny porpoise in the Gulf of California. This porpoise has become a powerful symbol of critically endangered animal species.
What was once a thriving population of snub-nosed vaquita porpoise living in the Gulf of California, is now a dangerously low number due to gillnet fishing for shrimp and totoaba, a popular delicacy in Asia, sparking increasing calls for action.
In Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s home in Mexico City, he as well as Hollywood star DiCaprio and Slim signed a memorandum of understanding committing to conserve marine life in the Gulf of California, including the vaquita.
The once thriving porpoise population is down to fewer than 30 wild vaquita according to the foundations run by Slim and DiCaprio.
“The accord comes less than a month after DiCaprio urged his fans on social media to petition Pena Nieto to save the vaquita, which prompted the president to take to Twitter to assure the actor that Mexico was doing all it could to protect the porpoise” (Graham).
The memorandum states that the signatories will undertake to make permanent a temporary ban on using gillnets in the vaquita’s waters and to step up efforts to combat the use of illegal gillnets, as well as the prosecution of illegal fishing and totoaba poaching.
Gillnet fishing uses mesh which is designed to allow fish to get only their head through the netting but not their body. It is believed that this is largely to blame for trapping the vaquita porpoises and killing them.
“The plan also included a commitment to prohibiting nighttime fishing in the upper Gulf of California and the vaquita reserve, and to enforce limited entry and exit points in the region for fishing, among other measures” (Graham).
In the last month, 200,000 people signed the petition to save the vaquita that DiCaprio created aimed at Pena Nieto, the World Wildlife Fund said.
In the statement, DiCaprio, the 42-year-old star of “Titanic,” called the memorandum a “critical step” on behalf of the marine mammal.
“I am honored to work with President Pena Nieto, who has been a leader in ecosystem conservation, to ensure the future viability of marine life in the Gulf,” DiCaprio said.
Later in the day, after signing the memorandum, Pena Nieto tweeted pictures of his meeting with DiCaprio and Slim, saying that Mexico understood its environmental responsibility to the world.
It is unclear at the moment just how much money was being dedicated to the rescue effort and how much each signatory was providing.
What more do you think can be done to save the vaquita? Do you think celebrities drawing attention to causes is appropriate? What causes would you like to see celebrities supporting and drawing attention to?
Source: Graham, Dave. “Mexico, DiCaprio and Carlos Slim Craft Plan to save Endangered Porpoise.” Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 07 June 2017. Web. 08 June 2017.