For two decades, the vaquita, the world’s smallest porpoise, has been on the verge of disappearing from Mexico’s Sea of Cortez, its only habitat.

The Mexican government has attempted to protect the animal, but its policies have utterly failed due to incompetence: the vaquita’s numbers have continued to dwindle in recent years, and are now down to 30. Authorities have so far been unable—or unwilling—to enforce rules barring practices that endanger the vaquita, and mismanaged programs designed to prevent those practices.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio is now trying to come to the vaquita’s rescue. Last month he started publicly pressing the Mexican government to do more to save the round-faced porpoise, whose name means “little cow” in Spanish. Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto immediately responded to him via Twitter, and on June 7 signed an agreement with DiCaprio’s foundation and that of Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim to launch a major last-ditch effort to save the vaquita.

It’s a notable example of the kind of pressure star and corporate power can exert on politicians, particularly on an unpopular president (link in Spanish) desperate for good news.

Environmental dealmakers.

Under the deal, the Mexican government agreed to permanently ban gillnets, which entangle and drown the cute cetaceans. The nets are used by illegal fishermen—there have been temporary blanket bans in the past, as well as rules banning fishing in certain areas—to catch another endangered Sea of Cortez-dweller, the totoaba. The totoaba is a large fish whose swim bladder is a hot commodity in China, where it is believed to have medicinal properties. The deal also forbids fishing at night, when, historically, it’s been harder for law enforcement to tell who is fishing legally and who is fishing illegally. Meanwhile, DiCaprio’s and Slim’s foundations will help to create alternative ways to make a living.

But the commitments, and new laws, while laudable, might be too little, too late.

That’s because while the vaquita never leaves the Sea of Cortez, the threats to its existence extend far beyond the 62,000-sq-mile body of water separating the Baja California peninsula from mainland Mexico. Saving the tiny porpoise will require addressing deep-rooted problems in Mexico and beyond, including “organized crime and internal migration, Mexico’s troubled law enforcement sector, international smuggling networks and rising demand for animal parts for use in traditional Chinese medicine,” according to Vanda Felbab-Brown, a Brookings Institution fellow who is part of a working group to preserve the porpoise. Those issues add up, and are why numerous efforts to curb illegal fishing in Mexico in the past have all withered on the vine.</s>Leonardo DiCaprio and Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto have vowed to try to save the vaquita marina porpoise, which could be extinct as soon as next year.

The pair had clashed briefly last month when DiCaprio promoted the cause online, leading to defensive tweets from Pena Nieto.

But two were all smiles on Wednesday as they shook hands and signed a deal in which Mexico promised to protect the marine ecosystems of the Gulf of California and in particular the vaquita, which is found only there.

Leonaro DiCaprio and Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto (both pictured shaking hands) vowed on Wednesday to protect the critically endangered vaquita porpoise

The vaquita is the world's smallest porpoise, and lives only in the Gulf of California. It is endangered due to illegal fishing of the totaba fish, which is used in Chinese medicine

In May, DiCaprio asked his millions of Twitter and Instagram followers to call on Pena Nieto to do more to protect the world's smallest porpoise, of which less than 30 remain.

The Mexican president responded with what was, for him, an unprecedented flurry of seven tweets in English defending his government's efforts to save the creature.

'Mexico's government is making a major effort, doing what should have been done decades ago to save the Vaquita Marina,' he said in one of the tweets.

Now the government is doing more, in a plan is backed by DiCaprio's foundation and that of Mexican telecoms billionaire Carlos Slim.

Slim - the world's sixth-richest person, according to Forbes magazine - also signed the deal.

'Now more than ever, the world is looking for bold leadership at every level to tackle climate change and environmental conservation issues,' DiCaprio said in a statement.

'This action is a critical step towards ensuring that the Gulf of California continues to be both vibrant and productive, especially for species like the critically endangered vaquita.'

There are only 30 of the porpoises - the smallest in the world - left. Pictured is a vaquita porpoise's fin

As well as banning gillnets, which the porpoises get caught up in, Mexico will develop new fishing gear and techniques for local communities

The Gulf of California, which was officially listed as a World Heritage site in 2005, is a source for half of Mexico's fisheries production.

Pena Nieto said Mexico 'understands its responsibility as one of the most biodiverse countries in the world' and would make a 'historic effort' to protect the vaquita.

Under the deal, Mexico will impose a permanent ban on gillnets in the vaquita's habitat.

The nets - used to catch another endangered species, the totoaba fish - have contributed to wiping out the vaquita.

Mexico also pledged to develop new fishing gear and techniques for local communities.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which has warned the vaquita risks going extinct in 2018, praised the 'landmark agreement.'

The threat is fueled by demand for totoaba swim bladders in China, where they are considered a delicacy and can fetch $20,000 per kilogram.

WWF called on Mexico to go further by launching coordinated efforts with China and the United States to end the illegal totoaba trade.</s>During a meeting on Thursday (June 8), Leonardo DiCaprio, Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto, billionaire Carlos Slim, and senior government officials at the Official Residence of Los Pinos created a Memorandum of Understanding to make major commitments to protect valuable marine ecosystems in the Gulf of California.

The Gulf has been under increased pressure from overfishing. The native Vaquita is on the brink of extinction as a result and there are also fewer than 30 of the native porpoises left in the wild.

“Now more than ever, the world is looking for bold leadership at every level to tackle climate change and environmental conservation issues,” Leonardo said. “I am honored to work with President Peña Nieto, who has been a leader in ecosystem conservation, to ensure the future viability of marine life in the Gulf. This action is a critical step towards ensuring that the Gulf of California continues to be both vibrant and productive, especially for species like the critically-endangered Vaquita. My Foundation and I look forward to continuing to work with President Peña Nieto, our NGO partners, and the local communities in the Gulf to reach greater progress on these important issues.”

“Mexico understands its responsibility as one of the countries with greatest biodiversity,” President Peña Nieto added. “That is why we have implemented an historic effort to avoid the extinction of a unique species in the world and also to protect important ecosystems such as the Revillagigedo World Heritage Site. Mexico also understands its vulnerability to the effects of climate change, and that is why we committed to meet the commitments of the Paris Agreement and to work with other countries to do the same. We are very pleased to have the support of the DiCaprio Foundation and the Slim Foundation since the sum of effort and teamwork always brings better results.”

The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and the Carlos Slim Foundation have pledged to support the ongoing operation of the enforcement, research and implementation of the objectives, which you can read below.

Click inside to find out the details of the memorandum…

- Making the temporary ban on the use of gillnets throughout the range of the Vaquita in the upper Gulf of California waters permanent

- Improving enforcement efforts to combat the use of illegal gillnets and increasing prosecution of illegal fishing and totoaba poaching,

-Prohibiting nighttime fishing in the upper Gulf of California and the Vaquita Reserve, and

- Implementing and enforcing limited entry and exit points throughout the region for all fishing through certified inspectors.</s>Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helú joined forces Wednesday to try to save the Vaquita, a critically endangered porpoise native to Mexico's Gulf of California, Mexico's Office of the Presidency and the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation said in separate statements.

At a ceremony on Wednesday at Los Pinos, the official residence of Mexico's President, Peña Nieto, DiCaprio and Slim signed a Memorandum of Understanding agreeing to make commitments to prevent the Vaquita from extinction—scientists believe there are less than 30 left. The Memorandum calls for stemming illegal fishing to protect marine life and making permanent what is now a temporary ban on the use of gillnets (a fishing net that is hung vertically so that fish get trapped in it by their gills) throughout the habitat of the Vaquita in the upper Gulf of California waters.

The agreement was backed by both the Carlos Slim Foundation, which promotes a broad range of philanthropic issues including the preservation of the environment, and the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, founded in 1998 to protect the world’s last wild places. The organizations made a joint commitment to helping fund local development and non-gillnet fishing options to try to offset the economic impact of the bans. Neither of the foundations disclosed how much money they will spend on the efforts.

Mexico's richest person and DiCaprio, who won the Academy Award for best actor in 2016, arrived side by side at the Presidential mansion, Slim's spokesperson and son-in-law Arturo Elías Ayub told me. "It was a mutual initiative. Both [Slim and DiCaprio] have been trying to save the Vaquita for a very long time," Elías said when asked if Slim took the initiative of inviting the famous actor and environmental activist to Mexico.

According to the statements, Slim said that his and DiCaprio's foundations, along with several non governmental organizations, will join with the government "for what could be the last opportunity to rescue and preserve the Vaquita marine mammal." Slim lamented that despite the efforts and investments implemented to save the Vaquita, "their population has dramatically declined, sadly, as victims [have been] trapped by illegal fishing gillnets.”

DiCaprio said that "now more than ever," the world is looking for bold leadership at every level to tackle climate change and environmental conservation issues. “This action is a critical step towards ensuring that the Gulf of California continues to be both vibrant and productive, especially for species like the critically endangered Vaquita.”

In recent months, as it became clear that illegal gillnets have driven the Vaquita to the brink of extinction, environmental groups and scientists have taken to social media to demand a bolder intervention by the Mexican government. Peña Nieto said Mexico understands its responsibility as one of the countries with the greatest biodiversity, and that is why it has taken a "historic effort" to prevent the extinction of a the Vaquita.

The Memorandum includes a commitment to accelerate the development of gillnet replacement gear that does not endanger the Vaquita and several large fish species, continue to evaluate the feasibility of providing sanctuary to the remaining Vaquitas, and establish an international expert advisory committee to provide input on the content of the Memorandum and to develop an action plan over the next several months.</s>Leonardo DiCaprio and Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto have vowed to try to save the vaquita marina porpoise, which could be extinct as soon as next year.

The pair had clashed briefly last month when DiCaprio promoted the cause online, leading to defensive tweets from Pena Nieto.

But two were all smiles on Wednesday as they shook hands and signed a deal in which Mexico promised to protect the marine ecosystems of the Gulf of California and in particular the vaquita, which is found only there.

In May, DiCaprio asked his millions of Twitter and Instagram followers to call on Pena Nieto to do more to protect the world's smallest porpoise, of which less than 30 remain.

The Mexican president responded with what was, for him, an unprecedented flurry of seven tweets in English defending his government's efforts to save the creature.

'Mexico's government is making a major effort, doing what should have been done decades ago to save the Vaquita Marina,' he said in one of the tweets.

Now the government is doing more, in a plan is backed by DiCaprio's foundation and that of Mexican telecoms billionaire Carlos Slim.

Slim - the world's sixth-richest person, according to Forbes magazine - also signed the deal.

'Now more than ever, the world is looking for bold leadership at every level to tackle climate change and environmental conservation issues,' DiCaprio said in a statement.

'This action is a critical step towards ensuring that the Gulf of California continues to be both vibrant and productive, especially for species like the critically endangered vaquita.'

The Gulf of California, which was officially listed as a World Heritage site in 2005, is a source for half of Mexico's fisheries production.

Pena Nieto said Mexico 'understands its responsibility as one of the most biodiverse countries in the world' and would make a 'historic effort' to protect the vaquita.

Under the deal, Mexico will impose a permanent ban on gillnets in the vaquita's habitat.

The nets - used to catch another endangered species, the totoaba fish - have contributed to wiping out the vaquita.

Mexico also pledged to develop new fishing gear and techniques for local communities.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which has warned the vaquita risks going extinct in 2018, praised the 'landmark agreement.'

The threat is fueled by demand for totoaba swim bladders in China, where they are considered a delicacy and can fetch $20,000 per kilogram.

WWF called on Mexico to go further by launching coordinated efforts with China and the United States to end the illegal totoaba trade.</s>(MEXICO CITY) — Mexico's president, its richest man and actor Leonardo DiCaprio have signed an agreement that aims to protect marine ecosystems in the upper Gulf of California where the vaquita porpoise is critically endangered.

The agreement is a collaboration between President Enrique Pena Nieto, multi-billionaire Carlos Slim and DiCaprio and will be backed by the respective foundations of Slim and DiCaprio.

The vaquita is native to the upper Gulf, but only an estimated 30 of the porpoises are left in the wild today.

The agreement sets objectives to prevent illegal fishing and gillnet use, which threaten the vaquita. It was signed at a meeting of the three men Wednesday.</s>* Pena Nieto hit by protests, but still likely to win

MEXICO CITY, June 13 Long before the Mexican presidential election officially began, front-runner Enrique Pena Nieto recruited an army of supporters on the Internet that dwarfed those of his rivals.

But with less than three weeks to go before the July 1 vote, some of the fiercest resistance to his candidacy is being waged online.

Organizing on the Web, young activists have launched protests against Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which ruled Mexico for most of the 20th century despite accusations of corruption and violent repression of dissent.

Taking power in 1929, the PRI was ousted by the conservative National Action Party (PAN) in 2000 and has pinned its hopes of a return to office on the telegenic Pena Nieto, 45.

Marketed as the new face of the party, Pena Nieto set out to connect with first-time voters - around a sixth of the electorate - who have fewer memories of the PRI's past.

When Pena Nieto stood down as governor of the State of Mexico in September, he had more fans on Facebook than the other main presidential hopefuls and President Felipe Calderon combined. Even today, he still has six times as many followers as his closest rival, leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

However, the sudden anti-Pena Nieto movement contends the centrist PRI is still dominated by the party's old guard, often working closely with Mexico's most powerful broadcasters.

The dissent has chipped away at Pena Nieto's support among young voters and breathed new life into the campaign of Lopez Obrador, who narrowly lost the last election in 2006.

Most pollsters say Pena Nieto has a double-digit lead and predict he will win, especially after he emerged from a final televised debate on Sunday largely unscathed. Around a fifth of voters are still undecided in most polls.

Nevertheless, in just over a month, support for Pena Nieto among 18- to 29-year-olds has slipped by 9 percentage points and jumped by nearly the same amount for Lopez Obrador, according to the Consulta Mitofsky polling firm.

"Even if Pena Nieto wins, at least he'll know it won't be as easy for him as it always was," said Gonzalo Ochoa, 36, one of tens of thousands at an anti-PRI march on Sunday in Mexico City.

A victorious Pena Nieto could face trouble in government if the groups mobilizing against him keep up the pressure.

"We are first working toward July 1 but also developing an agenda for after. Everyone is fired up," said Ivan Hernandez, a protest organizer in Guadalajara, Mexico's second-biggest city.

The buzz began last month when a crowd of students at Mexico City's private Ibero-American university heckled Pena Nieto and made videos of his uncertain reaction, then posted them online.

One grainy cell phone clip from the event showing the usually composed candidate looking worried and trying to escape the protest has been viewed nearly a million times on YouTube.

His campaign suggested the hecklers weren't really students, prompting 131 people to hold up their university cards in a video, giving birth to the movement "Yo soy 132" or "I am 132."

Foremost among the anti-PRI groups, "Yo soy 132" helped push for the last presidential debate to be broadcast on more national channels after the first face-off had to compete with a top-flight soccer match and a popular variety show for air time.

Just before the Ibero protest, 38 percent of voters had a positive impression of Pena Nieto and only 18 percent had a negative one. The same pollster, Mitofsky, reported this week that the gap has narrowed to 35 percent to 25 percent.

The scale of the anti-Pena Nieto movement is restricted by low Internet coverage in Mexico, where more than half the population lives in poverty. Only 36 percent of Mexicans are online, compared to 77 percent of U.S. households.

But usage is growing fast, rising by 14 percent last year.

Communications student Alejandro Gomez said it will take word of mouth to get the message off-line and onto the street.

"Even if everyone doesn't have the Internet, the information comes from there. I find out about it and tell my mom and she tells her neighbor who doesn't have a computer," said Gomez, 21.

The reaction has spurred other acts of defiance against the PRI candidate, taking the shine off his slick campaign.

This week, Internet activist group Anonymous Hispano posted personal details of Pena Nieto online including what it claimed were his phone numbers. On Tuesday, a crowd ran after his convoy in Puebla state, heckling him and hitting his car.

Pena Nieto has responded by saying he welcomes differences of opinion, but a parallel backlash against Mexico's two main broadcasters has helped to add fuel to the flames of protest.

Televisa and rival TV Azteca control 95 percent of the television market, and there has long been suspicion that they have taken money to support powerful politicians.

An article last week by British newspaper The Guardian included documents that appeared to show Televisa sought to raise Pena Nieto's profile and discredit Lopez Obrador in 2006 has created a buzz in Mexican online social media.

The enthusiasm for taking on Pena Nieto has spawned other movements looking to replicate the media impact of "Yo soy 132". But therein may also lie a problem for the opposition.

"On social networks it is various choruses competing for who can be louder," said Jose Carreno, a Mexican media expert. "The problem is they end up neutralizing each other." (Additional reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; Editing by Dave Graham)</s>Handout image released by the Mexican Presidency's press office showing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto (L) and US actor Leonardo Di Caprio (R) shaking hands in front of Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim during a meeting about the danger of extinction of the vaquita porpoise (Phocoena sinus) in Mexico City on June 7, 2017. Pic/AFP

The Mexican government, tycoon Carlos Slim and U.S. actor Leonardo DiCaprio on Wednesday unveiled a joint plan to protect a tiny porpoise in the Gulf of California that has become a potent symbol of critically endangered animal species.

Populations of the snub-nosed vaquita porpoise have plummeted due to gillnet fishing for shrimp and totoaba, a popular delicacy in Asia, sparking increasing calls for action.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto met Hollywood star DiCaprio and Slim in his official residence in Mexico City to sign a memorandum of understanding committing to conserve marine life in the Gulf of California, including the vaquita.

There are now fewer than 30 of the vaquita left in the wild, the foundations run by Slim and DiCaprio said in a statement.

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.

Under the memorandum, the signatories undertook 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, which uses mesh sizes designed to allow fish to get only their head through the netting but not their body, is blamed 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.

In the last month, 200,000 people have signed the petition to save the vaquita directed by DiCaprio 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.

Pena Nieto on Wednesday evening tweeted pictures of his meeting with DiCaprio and Slim, saying that Mexico understood its environmental responsibility to the world.

A spokesman for the project could not immediately say how much money was being dedicated to the rescue effort.</s>For more than two years, the telegenic Pena Nieto, 45, has led opinion polls to succeed conservative President Felipe Calderon when his term ends on Nov. 30.

Boasting a double-digit lead over rivals, Pena Nieto carries the hopes of a party that dominated Mexico for most of the last century until it was ousted in 2000 by Vicente Fox, a member of the National Action Party (PAN) like Calderon.

Though Pena Nieto has a long history with the PRI political machine, the party has sold him as fresh face to the millions of young voters with little memory of its long rule. The last PRI candidate to be elected president was Ernesto Zedillo in 1994.

A relative unknown in 2005 when he captured the governor's office of the State of Mexico - the country's most populous state - Pena Nieto would be the first PRI president never to have held a ministerial post at the national level.

He would also be the first in years to publicly embrace Roman Catholicism in a party whose founder was openly hostile toward the faith and waged war on the Church.

Pena Nieto has suffered less from the taint of corruption than previous governors in the PRI, whose stewardship of Mexico was marred by allegations of vote-rigging and authoritarianism.

He has made an effort to be more transparent, and built his image on public works and cooperation with the neighboring Mexico City government to improve infrastructure.

The bedrock of his administration in the State of Mexico were the campaign "pledges" he drew up and had witnessed by notaries, before checking them off during his six-year term.

Within minutes of the presidential campaign's start, Pena Nieto signed more pledges, promising to make public officials declare their assets and slash the number of federal deputies by one-fifth to 400.

"I'm going to wage a campaign of pledges," Pena Nieto told supporters on March 31. "I'm going to pledge myself to the whole of Mexico for all the great things that this country needs."

He has also promised to put an end to the drug-related violence that has overshadowed Calderon's administration, claiming more than 50,000 lives in five years.

Frequently ranked among Mexico's most handsome politicians, Pena Nieto has been mocked for his lack of intellect, especially after he struggled to name correctly a single book that had influenced him at a book fair in December.

He also drew fire from women in Mexico for a dismissive remark about housewives when he was forced to admit he did not know the cost of tortillas, a Mexican staple.

But neither that, nor his admission he had cheated on his first wife and fathered two children out of wedlock, has significantly dented his commanding poll lead.

Aides paint the picture of a decisive pragmatist focused on getting results with a knack for absorbing advice.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and ex-Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are among the modern political leaders Pena Nieto admires, they say.

Married to a glamorous Mexican soap opera star, Pena Nieto has an extended family that includes several former state governors and mayors in central Mexico. The politicians from the area have long been influential in the PRI.

Pena Nieto, who holds a law degree, has been in politics for most of his working life. The sudden death of his first wife in 2007 stirred rumors of suicide or foul play, but Pena Nieto weathered the storm and consolidated his power base.

Pena Nieto's image has been carefully cultivated by the party, and he has enjoyed a productive relationship with Mexico's dominant broadcaster, Televisa.

He also prefers to keep his speeches short and snappy, unlike the long technical PRI sermons of old.

Critics say Pena Nieto has not been tested against rivals and has so far ignored challenges to engage in public debates.</s>The Mexican government has announced new efforts to save the critically endangered vaquita from extinction, following a widespread advocacy campaign by groups including the World Wildlife Fund and the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, actor Leonardo DiCaprio and billionaire Carlos Slim met Wednesday to mark the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding that will spark new efforts to save the animal, which researchers worry could become extinct by next year. Last month DiCaprio launched a Twitter campaign aimed at Mexican officials to encourage them to take action, an effort that led Peña Nieto to declare the country was focusing “all its efforts to prevent the extinction of the species.”

“Now more than ever, the world is looking for bold leadership at every level to tackle climate change and environmental conservation issues,” DiCaprio said in a statement after Wednesday’s meeting. “This action is a critical step towards ensuring that the Gulf of California continues to be both vibrant and productive, especially for species like the critically-endangered vaquita.”

The memorandum includes a permanent ban on fishing nets that often unintentionally trap the animals and an increase in enforcement for such an effort.

“Mexico understands its responsibility as one of the countries with greatest biodiversity,” Peña Nieto said in a statement. “That is why we have implemented an historic effort to avoid the extinction of a unique species in the world.”

The news was praised by groups including the WWF, which, alongside DiCaprio, began a signature campaign last month to urge increased protections for the vaquita. More than 200,000 people joined the call.

“Today’s agreement marks a key step forward in the fight to save the critically endangered vaquita and ensure a sustainable future for the people and wildlife of Mexico’s Upper Gulf of California,” the group said in a statement.

Populations of vaquitas, small, elusive porpoises nicknamed “pandas of the sea,” have plummeted in recent years following a spate of illegal fishing operations in their habitat, Mexico’s Gulf of California. It’s estimated there are fewer than 30 vaquitas left in the wild.

The animals are often caught in large gillnets used to catch a critically endangered species of fish called the totoaba, whose swim bladders are prized on the black market in parts of Asia. Called “aquatic cocaine,” the bladders can sell for $10,000 a kilogram.

In recent months, scientists, conservationists and the Mexican government have waged a desperate battle to save the vaquita, including an increase in patrols and the outsourcing of some policing efforts to the activist group Sea Shepherd. Some researchers are preparing efforts to trap the few vaquitas that remain and breed them in captivity; however, such efforts have never been undertaken before, and some fear it could kill more vaquitas in the process.

While such plans have remained controversial, the WWF said any efforts to sequester the animals must include attempts to return them to the wild once populations recover, like initiatives to protect the California condor.

“WWF believes that any effort to capture and provide sanctuary for the remaining vaquita and breed them in captivity must be explicitly linked to a plan to return vaquita to the wild once their habitat is secure,” the group said.
American actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto meet to discuss the protection of the Vaquita porpoise.