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Full Description
In 2006, vaquita, a diminutive porpoise making its home in the Upper Gulf of California, inherited the dubious title of
world's most endangered marine mammal. Nicknamed "panda of the sea" for its small size and beguiling facial
markings, vaquita have been in decline for decades, dying by the hundreds in gillnets intended for the commercially
valuable fish, totoaba. When international crime cartels discovered a lucrative trade in the swim bladders of totoaba,
illegal gillnetting went rampant, and now the lives of the few remaining vaquita hang in the balance.
Author Brooke Bessesen takes us on a journey to Mexico's Upper Gulf region to uncover the story. She interviewed
townspeople, fishermen, politicians, scientists, and activists, teasing apart a complex story filled with villains and heroes,
a story whose outcome is unclear. When diplomatic and political efforts to save the little porpoise failed, Bessesen
traveled with a team of veterinary experts in a binational effort to capture the remaining ten vaquita and breed them in
captivity—the only hope for their survival. In this fast-paced, soul-searing tale, she learned that there are no easy answers
when extinction is profitable.
Whether the rescue attempt succeeds or fails, the world must ask itself hard questions. When vaquita and the totoaba are gone, the black market will turn to the next vulnerable species. What will we do then?
Contents
Table of Contents
Foreword
Goodbye Baiji
Prologue
Chapter 1: The Dead Girl
Chapter 2: Resource Extraction
Chapter 3: Chasing a Myth
Chapter 4: Tangled Agendas
Chapter 5: Death, Drugs, and Accountability
Chapter 6: Pirates on Patrol
Chapter 7: Searching for Vaquita
Chapter 8: Hearing Is Believing
Chapter 9: Science in the Sea
Chapter 10: Witnessing Extinction
Chapter 11: Saving Bigfoot
Chapter 12: Sending Out an SOS
Chapter 13: Meet the Totoaba
Chapter 14: Last-Ditch Effort
Chapter 15: Hope Is a Life Raft (with a persistent leak)
Epilogue
Author Note
Guide to Acronyms
Acknowledgements
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
