A mother and calf vaquita, a critically endangered small tropical porpoise native to MexicoÕs Gulf of California, surface in the waters off San Felipe, Mexico in this handout picture taken in 2008. Paula Olson/NOAA Fisheries/Handout via REUTERS/ File PhotoMEXICO CITY, Aug 7 (Reuters) - The International Whaling Commission (IWC) said on Monday it has issued an extinction alert for the endangered vaquita porpoise, whose population is estimated to have shrunk to less than a dozen, marking the institution's first-ever extinction warning. The critically endangered vaquita, the world's smallest porpoise and native to Mexico's Gulf of California, has been imperiled by illegal gill net fishing for an endangered fish called the totoaba, whose bladder is highly valued in Asia. The alert, the IWC said, stems from its belief that a new mechanism is needed "to voice extinction concerns for an increasing range of cetacean species and populations." "The extinction of the vaquita is inevitable unless 100% of gillnets are substituted immediately with alternative fishing gears that protect the vaquita and the livelihoods of fishers," it said.

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Persons: Paula Olson, Matthew Lewis Organizations: NOAA Fisheries, REUTERS, Whaling Commission, IWC, U.S, Carolina, Thomson Locations: MexicoÕs Gulf of California, San Felipe, Mexico, MEXICO, Mexico's Gulf of California, Asia, U.S