I have shamefully neglected this blog for far far to long. I have had plenty of ideas for great posts but they never quite make it to the blog. Some stories that I want to share are just waiting for the right day so don't despair (or at least that is what I tell myself). But today, today I want to write about something that has been bothering me for a while and my social media streams remind me that today is the "right day" to write this post.

Today is apparently 'International save the vaquita day' but who of you have heard of the vaquita? what is a vaquita I hear many of you say as you look at me with blank faces. My friends and colleagues in the marine mammal world will likely raise an eyebrow at that question; who doesn't know what a vaquita is and the problems that they face?? Well, I can tell you most people probably don't know what a vaquita is.  As an example, I was at BBQ the other weekend with friends, many of whom have (and continue) to spend much time in Mexico (I have never been to Mexico, but the importance of Mexico will become clear shortly). They did indeed look at me with confused expressions on their faces as I mentioned the plight of this little marine mammal. Then they asked 'what is a vaquita?'

I see plenty of posts in my social media streams calling for the conservation of this little mammal, bemoaning it's plight and calling it criminal that this species will be allowed to go extinct. But the reality is that these well meaning posts are really only going out to those who already know about the problem. You may feel good about sharing a post, spreading the word on the vaquita's plight but what are you really doing? Who are you getting the message to and how does it really help? (and I am guilty of this too, don't get me wrong). But should we really be so surprised that those not in the conservation world, or the marine mammal science world don't know about the vaquita?

To be fair there are more focused efforts to save the vaquita, both from within Mexico and further afield. This past December the Society for Marine Mammalogy awarded the Conservation Merit Award to acknowledge the efforts of Mexico's scientists, government officials, environmentalists and fishermen in their efforts to save the little porpoise. There is the group Viva Vaquita whose mission is to raise awareness through public education

But bringing back the vaquita from the brink of extinction will be an impossible feat. While their main threats may be through bycatch (being caught in fishing nets), in the totoba fishery, this is not the sole problem. There are deep underlying issues linked to the regions' ecosystem degradation that have resulted wider social issues. My colleague at UBC, Dr. Andres Cisneros-Montemayor pointed this out earlier this year that the problems of overfishing, and hence bycatch cannot be addressed through banning fishing. The problems of the vaquita are explicitly linked to the socio-economic conditions of the region within which the vaquita lives.

At present there is no incentive for local people to conserve the vaquita, what is in it for them? Andres gets to the point that most, if not all the other media and conservation campaigns to save the vaquita have failed to highlight. This is a socio-economic problem that cannot be solved through ecology and conservation. We need to instead focus our efforts on addressing the underlying problems. For the vaquita this will likely be too late but for other species threatened with extinction perhaps not. Perhaps the vaquita will be our canary in the coal mine to shift how we address conservation problems around the world, and see governments and conservation groups working with local communities to empower them to manage their own resources and ultimately conserve both their resources and their regions as a whole.

I strongly encourage you to both find out about the vaquita as well as read the Nerus Program press release and Andres' article on why we must consider social and economic factors in our bid to save endangered species. 

• Nerus Program Press Release: The impending extinction of the vaquita is not just a fishing problem - it's a social and ecological one too.

• Cisneros-Montemayor, A. M., and A. Vincent. 2016. Science, society, and flagship species: social and political history as keys to conservation outcomes in the Gulf of California. Ecology and Society 21(2):9. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-08255-210209
  

My colleague and fellow PhD student Rachel Neuenhoff, studies the role and relative impacts of marine mammals on fisheries and is interested in how gray seals interact with this depleted fishery. This subject is perhaps a contentious one, and is certainly highly charged with emotion on both sides - the fishermen who see the seal as a direct competitor of a limited resource upon which their livelihoods and communities depend, and the environmentalists who's remit it is to protect all marine mammals regardless of the social or economic impacts to small coastal communities. Rachel has not been afraid to wade into this debate and in fact she has done it with gusto! Perhaps not what you might of imagined from the slight somewhat quiet lady who sits a few desks away from me in our lab at the University of British Columbia.

Rachel is using a somewhat underused tool to help her with her research.  She has designed a questionnaire to collect "traditional knowledge" from the fishermen. Fisherman played an integral part in the design of the questionnaire to ensure that it would accurately captured the issues that they confront on a daily basis.  (I borrowed the last part of that sentence from Rachel's blog but I am sure she won't mind... I can bribe her with coffee ;-) ).  Thus far the responses to her questionnaire have been tremendous and I think that this just goes to show how much fisherman have to offer and also how keen they are to share their knowledge.  All we have to do is ask.  This is not something that is always well taught to students of fisheries.  I have had my own experience of this while working on my Masters research in Orkney, Scotland. 

In May 2004 I travelled from Aberdeen to Orkney armed with acoustic recording devices and a surveyors theodolite to collect data on harbour porpoises distribution in the vicinity of a fish farm that employed acoustic deterrent devices (ADDs) to deter seals.  I spent time with the fish farm manager of the site that I was focusing my study on, asking simple questions and was often surprised at the answers I received.  The knowledge of this fish farm manager, in terms of how to control viral diseases such as Infectious pancreatic necrosis (IPN) or indeed on how to keep marauding seals away from his fish pens was often contrary to what we we had been taught in classes just a few months before.  Almost 10 years later this apparent disconnect between scientists and fishers (be they farmers, commercial fishermen or subsistence users - such as the Inupiat whalers, to whom my current PhD work relates to in Alaska), is still something that is not properly addressed. Often fisheries and subsistence users are wary of scientists because of our tendency to brush off this traditional knowledge as anecdotal. It does not fit the rigours of the scientific method that we have been so carefully taught. However, the efforts of scientists such as Rachel and others (particularly in the Fisheries Centre at UBC) to incorporate the knowledge of local stakeholders is changing this mind-set. Traditional knowledge can in fact provide that vital foundation for the design of scientific studies and together these key components can help us make the right decisions, so vital for the sustainable management of marine systems.

Well... it seems that this post went places I wasn't expecting it too so thanks for baring with me.  I strongly encourage you to check out Rachel's blog and join in the discussion surrounding the impacts of marine mammals on fisheries.