CNN —The International Whaling Commission released its first-ever extinction alert Monday to warn of the potential danger facing the critically endangered vaquita porpoise. The scientific committee believes the vaquita population has a chance of recovery if stronger enforcement is placed on the ban on gillnets in their habitat. The vaquita population has varied from a few thousand to 5,000 over the last 250,000 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But maintaining a small population for so long has actually helped the vaquitas, which have a 21-year lifespan, reducing the risks of inbreeding because they have less genetic variation among them. The marine mammals are also less susceptible to harmful genetic mutations that might otherwise cause their offspring to die.

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Persons: ” Vaquitas “, Kate Wilson, ” Kirk Lohmueller, CNN’s Kristen Rogers Organizations: CNN, Whaling Commission, International Union for Conservation, IWC, Gulf of, National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, University of California Locations: Gulf of California, Mexico, Gulf, China, Mexico’s Gulf of California, Cortez, Los Angeles