Earth (2017)

Hi Leo, it is a pleasure to meet you.

A lot of the funding comes from the Mexican government, but there are also US-based groups, such as the National Marine Mammal Foundation and National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that have played central roles in both funding and expertise.

The vaquita is a difficult species to retrieve samples from. Despite this difficulty, all samples collected during necropsy are being stored, but there is no intention to utilize DNA at this time. The concept of a surrogate birth with a close relative is more theory based. The largest obstacle here is just capturing this cryptic creature and with a rapidly declining population and unknown survival probability the stakes are high.

Not yet, luckily! But we'll see what the future holds...

So the Mexican drug cartels are involved in smuggling the swim bladders of a fish species called the totoaba. This illegal wildlife trade is driven by the demand for these swim bladders in China - where there is a belief that the product has medicinal benefits like bear bile and rhino horn. This illegal trade is driving LOTS on illegal totoaba fishing in the upper Gulf of California, and this illegal fishing is wiping out the vaquita, because the vaquita can easily become entangled and drown in the totoaba nets.

In addition - the swim bladders of the totoaba are now worth so much money, that they have become an investment commodity in China. Lots of the people who are buying them are not buying them to consume them and get these supposed medicinal benefits, but as an investment or status symbol. People will hang the dried, preserved swim bladders on their wall.

Wild Lens is focusing on all aspects of this story. As for the groups that are on the front lines trying to save the species, yes, captive breeding has moved to the forefront of the effort. This is a last ditch effort since all the other efforts have either failed and time is running out.

The captive breeding effort is extremely controversial. Scientist are being cautious, and staying that this is not a captive breeding program and it is an effort to capture vaquita and place them in a temporary sanctuary in the Upper Gulf of California. The vaquita captures are loosely scheduled for October 2017. The ultimate goal is to capture at least 10 vaquita individuals. Now with that said, females and males must both be captured. Also, the population of vaquita is less than 30. 30 individuals was reported as of fall of 2016. Since there there have been 4 confirmed mortalities, but those are what were just discovered. There are probably others that have died.

Yes, it's a deeply troubling situation. It's difficult to not give up hope - but we have to remember that lots of other species have recovered from similarly precipitous population declines. There were at one time only 22 California condors on the planet - now there are over 400.

Well... our ultimate goal is to raise awareness about the vaquita. We want out film releases to be actively used by everyone to spread the word about the plight of the vaquita. More importantly, we want to impact the people of the northern Upper Gulf of California and get them involved in conserving this endemic species. It is important that the people, especially the youth of this region are involved in protecting their ecosystem.

We recently traveled down to San Felipe, Mexico and screened at local schools for hundreds of students and the result was amazing. The film engaged them and made them think what about what is happening in their communities. This is where change starts.

additional comment: Thus far we have released two films from the Souls of the Vermilion Sea project. We will create a feature length film in the near future incorporating all the aspects of this story. We have been releasing short films as we want the information to be relevant and not after the fact. We want to share the vaquita's story with the world while the vaquita still exists.

Especially when the Mexican drug cartels are involved...

Yes! The Mexican drug cartels are involved in smuggling the swim bladders of an endangered fish called the totoaba from Mexico to the US and China. This illegal wildlife trade is driving the extinction of the vaquita through bycatch from the nets set to catch totoaba. And the presence of the drug cartels in this small fishing community is threatening the safety of the people who live there. So yes, this shit is real.

Yes, there are lots of groups involved in trying to stop this illegal trade. For our part - we produced a 30-min documentary about the issue with the goal of educating as many people as possible about what's going on. There are groups working in Mexico trying to find ways to shut down the illegal totoaba fishing, and groups working in China to try to stop the demand for totoaba swim bladders. The problem is that there is very little time left to save the vaquita - the species could be extinct by the end of this year.