The government of Mexico officially ended the policy of maintaining a fishing-free zone around the last surviving vaquitas, sentencing them to extinction.
The measure announced Wednesday replaces the “zero tolerance” fishing-free zone in the Upper Gulf of California with a sliding scale of sanctions in the event of repeated sightings of more than 60 boats in the region, giving up on protecting the species with a fishing-free zone.
Because Mexico has not been able to implement the current restrictions, which prohibit the presence of vessels in that small area, the sliding scale . . .
