Mexico to spend millions to save porpoises

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Mexico plans to invest $16 million to save the highly endangered Gulf of California harbor porpoise in the upper part of the gulf, asking reluctant fishermen to adopt safer methods or give up their trade entirely, the Associated Press reports.

Scientists say the population of the porpoise known as the vaquita marina -- Spanish for ‘little sea cow’ -- has dwindled to 150 or fewer. In the undated photo above released by Proyecto Vaquita, a porpoise lies dead on a beach along the Gulf of California.

Plans include paying fishermen to avoid the porpoise’s habitat, give up drag nets that drown dozens of the animals each year or give up fishing, Environment Secretary Juan Rafael Elvira said in Ensenada.

--Francisco Vara-Orta