The world’s most endangered marine mammal, a small porpoise called the vaquita, is hanging onto existence and appears to be benefiting from new conservation measures, according to the results of a new scientific survey of the species that was made public on Wednesday. An international team of scientists estimated that at least 10 vaquitas remain in the Gulf of California, the waters that separate Baja California from the Mexican mainland. The porpoises are found nowhere else and have been driven to the brink of extinction by drowning in gill nets, a type of fishing gear that drifts like a huge mesh curtain, catching fish by their gills. Dolphins, sea turtles and vaquitas get stuck, too, dying when they can’t surface to breathe. “Today, we have good news, hopeful news,” María Luisa Albores González, Mexico’s secretary of environment and natural resources, said at a news conference announcing the survey results.

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Persons: ” María Luisa Albores González Locations: Gulf of California, Baja California, Mexican