World's Smallest Porpoise Still Endangered Despite Government Efforts

The vaquita -- the world's smallest porpoise living off the coast of Mexico -- is getting closer than ever to extinction, despite the many efforts to protect it and its natural habitat.

According to The New York Times, there are only 60 of these snub-nosed vaquita left in the northern part of the Gulf of California, and a panel of scientists are recommending measures to help save it.

#NEWSGRAPHIC on the critically endangered vaquita marina porpoise - total population is now down to 60, study shows pic.twitter.com/6RapGaSjuc

— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 17, 2016

Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho, chairman of the panel said in a statement, "We are watching this precious native species disappear before our eyes."

Another factor that put the vaquitas in more danger is the fact that they live in the same area as a largem endangered fish species called the totoaba. The demand for the totoaba's organ -- specifically it's swim bladder -- is high, as it is dried and smuggled across the border to California, then shipped to China, where it is considered a delicacy and sells for close to $5,000 a pound.

The vaquita, which are smaller than the totoaba when fully-grown, become entangled in the nets and drown. However, the vaquita have been in danger long before the totoaba trade began. They have been threatened by long gill nets that the local fishermen set up to catch shrimp and finfish. The government introduced efforts to introduce vanquita-safe nets and encourage fishermen to switch to other fields of work, but these efforts have had little effect.

Last year, the government announced a two-year ban on all gill nets on the vaquita's habitat in the northern Gulf, and introduced a $70 million plan to compensate the fisherme. Still, the efforts have been unsuccessful.

Oona Layolle, who headed the campaign with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society noted that many totoaba fishermen are still evadeing enfocement.“They are managing to go and fish at night, so obviously there is a problem with corruption," she said.