State of Conservation

• Fishing/collecting aquatic resources
• Illegal activities (illegal fishing)
• Serious concerns about the imminent extinction of an endemic porpoise species (vaquita) and conservation status of a marine fish (totoaba)

• Imminent extinction of an endemic porpoise species (vaquita) and conservation status of a marine fish (totoaba)
• Insufficient capacity to control illegal fishing and trafficking activities
• Presence of unsustainable fishing practices that endanger non-target marine species

Not yet drafted

Not yet identified

Not yet identified

Requests approved: 0
Total amount approved : 0 USD

April 2017: joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission; February 2018: joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission

On 27 January 2019, the State Party submitted a report on the state of conservation of the property, available at http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1182/documents, reporting the following:

• The State Party re-affirms its commitment to using the tool of the List of World Heritage in Danger to strengthen international cooperation and is seeking cooperation with other States Parties to fight illegal international trafficking of totoaba products, which continues to be the main threat to the survival of the vaquita. Consultations are ongoing with the State Party of China regarding an adoption of a Memorandum of Understanding that would improve cooperation in this field, and the possibility of convening a meeting of States Parties that are transit and destination countries for the illegal totoaba products is being considered in line with a decision adopted by the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES);
• It is confirmed that alternative fishing gear solutions already exist, including for shrimp, curvina and sierra fisheries. For the 2019-2020 shrimp fishing season, a total of 544 permits for 588 speedboats were issued, all authorizing only the allowed fishing gear;
• Surveillance and enforcement activities have continued, coordinated by the Inter-institutional Operation Committee (COI), including air, sea and land law enforcement activities, supported by the Mexican Navy, Federal Police, Environmental Gendarmerie and other agencies. 42 totoaba swim bladders were detected by the Mexican Army on a single day in 2019 thanks to ongoing control of vehicles at military checkpoints; 271 swim bladders were seized at Mexico International Airport in 2019;
• Cooperation with civil society has also been strengthened through signing collaboration agreements with the Whale and Marine Sciences Museum for the installation of buoys to mark the Vaquita Refuge Area and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for continuing the ghost nets retrieval programme, particularly in the “zero tolerance zone” corresponding to the area with the highest possible concentration of the remaining vaquitas.
• Other conservation and monitoring activities across the components of the property are reported.

In 2020, the World Heritage Centre and IUCN held several virtual meetings with the State Party regarding the development of the corrective measures and a proposal for a Desired state of conservation for the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger (DSOCR). A proposal for corrective measures was submitted by the State Party on 15 July 2020. On 20 August, the State Party further communicated that a technical working group has been established to develop the DSOCR. Further discussions were held through online meetings in 2021, and the World Heritage Centre and IUCN provided further written advice to the State Party on the developed proposals for corrective measures and the DSOCR.

In April 2021, the World Heritage Centre provided funding through the Rapid Response Facility (RRF) for the resumption of net retrieval operations in the vaquita sanctuary. Net retrieval operation had been suspended in December last following an incident between the NGO operated net retrieving vessels and illegal fishermen.

On 4 May 2021, the World Heritage Centre sent a letter to the State Party regarding third-party information raising concerns that the new fishing regulations developed for the areas within the property, while including a number of important elements, do not fully address previously raised concerns. No response has been received at the time of writing of this report. 

The ongoing inter-institutional efforts aimed at fighting illegal fishing activities in the Upper Gulf of California and illegal trafficking of totoaba products should be welcomed. While the figures reported by the State Party in terms of the seizure of illegal products show that the measures put in place for the detection of illegal trafficking activities are working, they also show that the volume of illegally extracted totoaba swim bladders remains alarmingly high, indicating that illegal fishing activities continue in spite of the important efforts to stop them. The third-party information received also confirms that illegal activities remain widespread in the vaquita sanctuary. It is therefore recommended that the State Party further strengthens these efforts based on a critical assessment of the efficiency of the current efforts on how to improve them.

It is expected that the State Party provide further information on the new fisheries regulations which have been approved in September 2020. Third party sources note that the new regulations, if enforced, have the potential to reduce totoaba poaching and vaquita bycatch but raise concerns that the State Party has not fully implemented the regulations and has failed to enforce them.

The efforts by the State Party to continue a dialogue with the States Parties that are transit and destination countries for illegal totoaba products, including within the framework of CITES, should also be welcomed and strongly encouraged to continue.

Regarding legal fishing and the development of alternative vaquita-safe fishing gear, the confirmation provided by the State Party that a number of alternative solutions is available and has been provided to the interested fishers, including for the 2018-2019 shrimp fishing season, is positive and welcomed. However, the level of uptake of the alternative fishing gear across the fishing communities in the Upper Gulf is unclear based on the information provided. It is therefore recommended that the Committee request the State Party to continue these efforts and to provide further information on the scale of deployment of alternative fishing gear.

Ongoing ‘ghost net’ retrieval efforts, including through collaboration with civil society organizations, now formalized through a collaboration agreement, are also welcomed. However, the figures provided by the State Party again indicate that the situation remains of concern, since a large number of ghost nets continues to be found. It is also noted that the ghost nets retrieval activities have been concentrated in the so called “zero tolerance zone”, however, no further information has been provided on how effective the zone has been. The recent suspension of net retrieval operations following the December last incident is of outmost concern, especially that the totoaba illegal fishing season is now well underway.

Finally, in light of significant concerns regarding the drastic decline of the vaquita in recent years, it is noted that while important information has been provided by the State Party regarding the ongoing surveillance and law enforcement activities, no recent update on the status of the vaquita population  has been provided, which makes it difficult to assess the effectiveness of the measures. The report also provides no information if further cases of dead vaquita were reported.

The efforts by the State Party to develop a set of corrective measures and a DSOCR in cooperation with the World Heritage Centre and IUCN are welcomed. It is recommended that the Committee request the State Party to speed up this process and to submit the final revised version with its next report on the state of conservation of the property. The World Heritage Centre and IUCN express their availability to provide further advice to the process, if necessary, through available means, including a technical workshop with participation of the World Heritage Centre, IUCN, including its Species Survival Commission, and the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita (CIRVA).