Vaquita Face Extinction from Bycatch. Comment on Manjarrez-Bringas, N. et al., Lessons for Sustainable Development: Marine Mammal Conservation Policies and Its Social and Economic Effects. Sustainability 2018, 10, 2185

Karl W. Flessa, Luis Calderon-Aguilera, Carlos E. Cintra-Buenrostro, David L. Dettman, Gregory P. Dietl, David H. Goodwin, David K. Jacobs, Michal Kowalewski, Steven M. Nelson, Kirsten Rowell, Bernd R. Schöne, Jansen A. Smith and Francisco Zamora-Arroyo
Additional contact information
Karl W. Flessa: Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Luis Calderon-Aguilera: Departamento de Ecología Marina, Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, Ensenada, Baja California 22860, Mexico
Carlos E. Cintra-Buenrostro: School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, TX 78520, USA
David L. Dettman: Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Gregory P. Dietl: Paleontological Research Institution, Ithaca, New York, NY 14850, USA
David H. Goodwin: Department of Geosciences, Denison University, Granville, OH 43023, USA
David K. Jacobs: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
Michal Kowalewski: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
Steven M. Nelson: 6101 NW 102nd Ave Apt 5, Vancouver, WA 98662, USA
Kirsten Rowell: Environmental Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Bernd R. Schöne: Institute für Geowissenschaften, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, D-55128 Mainz, Germany
Jansen A. Smith: Paleontological Research Institution, Ithaca, New York, NY 14850, USA
Francisco Zamora-Arroyo: Sonoran Institute, 100 N. Stone Ave., Suite 400, Tucson, AZ 85701, USA

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 7, 1-6

Abstract: We are among the scientists who have documented the environmental and ecological changes to the Upper Gulf of California following the reduction in the Colorado River’s flow. We object to any suggestion that our research supports Manjarrez-Bringas et al.’s conclusion that the decline in the Colorado River’s flow is the reason for the decline in the population of the endangered vaquita porpoise ( Phocoena sinus ). Manjarrez-Bringas et al.’s conclusions are incongruent with their own data, their logic is untenable, their analyses fail to consider current illegal fishing practices, and their recommendations are unjustified and misdirected. Vaquita face extinction because of bycatch, not because of the lack of river flow.

Keywords: Gulf of California; marine mammal; vaquita; Phocoena sinus; bycatch; fisheries policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
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