Eight-hour Ocean Film screening event — the International Save the Vaquita Day 2017 ©WildAid 

The vaquita is the world’s smallest and most endangered species of porpoise living in the northern parts of the Gulf of California in Mexico. Bycatch of the shrimp fishery by gillnets and the illegal fishing and trafficking of totoaba–another endangered species endemic to the Gulf of California–are the key threats to vaquitas. Bladders are taken from illegally caught totoaba in Mexico, then smuggled into China and other Asian countries from Mexico and the U.S. for food. To save the vaquita from extinction, we need to stop the use of gillnets and to stop the illegal totoaba trade. 

July 8 is the 2017 International Save the Vaquita Day dedicated to calling for action to save the last 22 vaquitas in the world. On that day, NRDC co-organized an eight-hour Ocean Film screening event with WildAid and five local ocean conservation groups from Guangdong. The screening featured vaquitas to raise public awareness on the plight of this most endangered porpoise and to call for consumers to reject dried Totoaba swim bladders. 600 Guangzhou citizens participated in the event and over 35,000 viewers visited the event webpage. This is another action from China in response to the CITES decisions after the enforcement training and crackdown & education campaigns to traders.