A new genetic research study published May 5 in Science showed that the world’s smallest porpoise was in danger of extinction.
According to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration news release, unchecked gillnetting has threatened the vaquita population. Research findings countered the belief inbreeding among the few remaining vaquitas will lead to extinction, regardless of whether gillnet fishing ends.
“If we can allow these animals to survive, they can do the rest. Genetically they still have the diversity that let them thrive for hundreds of thousands of years, until the gillnets arrived,” Jacqueline Robinson, a postdoctoral researcher at UC San Francisco said, according to the release.
No predetermined outcome is at hand. The species survival is in our hands, Phillip Morin, a research geneticist at NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center and co-author of the research, said, according to the release.
“There is a high probability genetically that they can recover if we protect them from gillnets and allow the species to recover as soon as possible to historical numbers,” he said in the release.
Christopher Kyriazis, a graduate student at UCLA and co-lead of the new findings, said vaquitas have little time left despite the species’ ability to recover is not limited by their genetics, the release reported.
“If we lose them, it would be the result of our human choices, not inherent genetic factors,” he said, according to the release.
