"International officials will soon decide the fate of Mexican totoaba fish farming—and with it, possibly the last glimmer of hope for the vaquita."
"In Mexico, consumers are allowed to eat totoaba—just not the wild version of this critically endangered fish. For around 10 years, fish farmers have raised totoaba in sea pens off the coast of Mexico, successfully selling their product domestically: consumers have eaten it up, with foodies describing totoaba flesh as pillowy and tender with massive, buttery, halibut-like flakes. Now the aquaculture industry wants to break out of Mexico and export farmed totoaba, a move that has drawn fire from conservationists.
In early March, the Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) will meet in Lyon, France, to discuss species under the highest threat due to international trade. During the week-long meeting, committee members will consider the request by Earth Ocean Farms (EOF)—a Mexican company with ties to American investors—to export totoaba to markets beyond Mexico. The discussion promises to be complicated.
EOF’s facilities are located in La Paz, a town at the southern tip of Baja California. But context for the totoaba conundrum is found almost 900 kilometers to the north, where wild totoaba swim and breed in the upper part of the Gulf of California."
Victor R. Rodríguez reports for Hakai magazine February 22, 2022.
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