Conservation advocates seek to ban U.S. seafood imports from Mexico

Staff Report

Last-ditch efforts to save the world’s most endangered marine mammal may include a lawsuit against the U.S. government that could force a ban on seafood imports from Mexico.

There are probably less than 30 vaquitas remaining in the upper Gulf of California, and continued use of gill nets in the region is the biggest threat to their survival, according to conservation activists. Other efforts to prevent extinction of the species appear to be faltering, so three conservation groups — the Natural Resources Defense Council, Animal Welfare Institute and Center for Biological Diversity — notified the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service that its failure to ban imports of seafood from the vaquita’s habitat in Mexico violates the Marine Mammal Protection Act.