- The Koipai Yu-xa is much more than just a vessel: it is a platform for learning, collaboration, and community science that enables young people from San Felipe to actively participate in the monitoring and conservation of the vaquita.
- Thanks to the joint efforts of the Centro Intercultural de Estudios de Desiertos y Océanos (CEDO), Espacios Naturales y Desarrollo Sustentable (ENDESU), Pronatura Noroeste (PNO), la Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (CONANP), la Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT), Pesca ABC y el Cetacean Action Treasury (CAT), with support from The Colossal Foundation, Marisla Foundation, and Innovaciones Alumbra, this initiative brings together local knowledge, scientific tools, and technology to generate key information about the species.
- Aboard the Koipai Yu-xa, young people have become the driving force behind a collective effort that demonstrates that conservation is stronger when it grows from within the communities themselves. More than simply documenting the status of the vaquita, this platform is helping to shape a new generation of community-based observers in the Upper Gulf of California, strengthening the community’s connection to the marine ecosystem and building a story rooted in participation, knowledge, and the hope of contributing to the species’ recovery.
Ensenada, Baja California, July 17, 2026. – For more than 20 years, Pronatura Noroeste has worked to protect the vaquita through a comprehensive program that combines scientific monitoring, community strengthening in the Upper Gulf of California, the promotion of more sustainable fisheries practices, and collaboration with partner institutions and organizations.
As part of this long-term effort to contribute to the vaquita’s recovery, and in recognition of International Vaquita Day, we celebrate community participation in the conservation of this iconic species, found exclusively in Mexico.
The Koipai Yu-xa vessel represents a platform for learning, collaboration, and community science that enables young people from San Felipe to actively participate in the monitoring and conservation of the vaquita.
Thanks to the joint effort of the Centro Intercultural de Estudios de Desiertos y Océanos (CEDO), Espacios Naturales y Desarrollo Sustentable (ENDESU),
Pronatura Noroeste (PO), the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP), the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), Pesca ABC, and the Cetacean Action Treasury (CAT), this initiative, which started in 2023 as part of CONANP’s Program for the Protection and Restoration of Ecosystems and Priority Species (PROREST), has been strengthened through the support of The Colossal Foundation, Marisla Foundation, and Innovaciones Alumbra, integrates local knowledge, scientific tools, and technology to generate key information about the species.
Through this initiative, we continue community-based monitoring of the vaquita and strengthen local capacity to generate scientific information that supports its conservation; at the same time, we promote actions for a more sustainable fishery in the Upper Gulf of California.
We aim to change the way we know the vaquita.
For many years, relationships between communities and the vaquita have been marked by challenges related to gillnets. For many people, the only way to meet the vaquita was to see it trapped by a net.
Today, we want to change this story. Conserving the vaquita also means changing the way we relate to it. To achieve this goal, it is essential to have the active participation of communities in its conservation.
In this view, and after three years collaborating with the community of San Felipe, we conduct observation campaigns allowing young people, fisherfolk, and residents of the region to directly participate in monitoring the vaquita and have the opportunity to see it alive and free. Only when a community knows, values, and embraces their natural heritage can it become its main ally in protecting it.
The work carried out with CONANP builds necessary capacities for the vaquita to be known and valued from a perspective of conservation and life, rather than just as a species associated with the impacts of bycatch.
In every observation session on high seas, we strengthen the capacities of community vaquita observers through training in methodologies for documenting sightings, validating records, using specialized tools, and generating scientific information that contributes to a better understanding of the population status and helps guide conservation actions.
During this process, 14 local observers have participated in specialized training in marine mammal observation, drone use, field photography, and observation equipment with high-power binoculars (Big Eyes).
This effort brings together decades of experience from observers and specialists who have worked in the Upper Gulf of California, enabling new generations of local residents to actively participate in vaquita conservation. Although visually locating vaquitas remains a challenge due to their elusive behavior and extremely small population, scientific monitoring continues to provide valuable information.
In Pronatura Noroeste, we believe the recovery of this species is possible if more people know its story, understand its importance, and decide to get involved in its conservation. For this reason, we will keep working alongside communities of the Upper Gulf of California so that new generations can get to know the vaquita as a living species, recognise it as part of their natural heritage, and become its main allies in assuring its future.
CONTACT
comunicacion@pronatura-noroeste.org
+52 (646) 174 0750, ext. 106
Translated by: Nicole Fuentes & Daniella Zatarain
Reviewed and edited by: Oddary Tacuba
