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Author Bessesen, Brooke, author.

Title Vaquita : science, politics, and crime in the Sea of Cortez / Brooke Bessesen.

Publication Info. Washington, DC : Island Press, [2018]
©2018

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 Mansfield, Main Library - Adult Nonfiction  599.539 BESSESEN    Check Shelf
 Newington, Lucy Robbins Welles Library - Adult Department  599.539 BESSESEN    Check Shelf
 West Hartford, Noah Webster Library - Non Fiction  333.9542 BESSESEN    Check Shelf
Description xvii, 293 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm
Note "Foreword by Carl Safina"--Dust jacket.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 265-283) and index.
Contents Foreword -- "Goodbye Baiji" -- Prologue -- The dead girl -- Resource extraction -- Chasing a myth -- Tangled agendas -- Death, drugs, and accountability -- Pirates on patrol -- Searching for Vaquita -- Hearing is believing -- Science in the sea -- Witnessing extinction -- Saving Bigfoot -- Sending out an SOS -- Meet the totoaba -- Last-ditch effort -- Hope is a life raft (with a persistent leak) -- Epilogue.
Summary "In 2006, the last of China's Yangtze river dolphins--baiji--succumbed to extinction, and la vaquita marina, a diminutive porpoise endemic to the Upper Gulf of California, quietly and without fanfare inherited the title of world's most endangered marine mammal. Unlike many other critically endangered species, the vaquita is not hunted. Nor is its habitat disappearing or degraded. The species is even protected by law. Why then have its numbers plummeted to near extinction when few humans have seen it live in the wild? The answer lies in a shadowy mix of international cartels, fishermen entrapped by politics and culture, and an unlikely fish called the totoaba. In this haunting story, Brooke Bessesen sets out to Mexico's Upper Gulf region to untangle the intricacies of the biology, acoustical science, and international intrigues behind the vaquita's decline. She interviews townspeople, fishermen, politicians, scientists, and activists, teasing apart a complex story filled with villains and heroes, a story whose outcome is unclear. When diplomatic and political efforts to save the little porpoise fail, Bessesen follows a team of veterinary experts in a binational effort to capture the last remaining vaquitas and breed them in captivity--the best hope for their survival."--Dust jacket flap.
Subject Phocoena sinus.
Rare mammals -- Mexico -- California, Gulf of.
Endangered species -- Mexico -- California, Gulf of.
Wildlife conservation -- Mexico -- California, Gulf of.
Endangered ecosystems -- Mexico -- California, Gulf of.
Poaching -- Mexico -- California, Gulf of.
Totoaba fisheries -- Mexico -- California, Gulf of.
Phocoena sinus -- Conservation -- Social aspects.
Phocoena sinus -- Conservation -- Economic aspects.
Wildlife conservation -- Social aspects -- Mexico -- California, Gulf of.
Wildlife conservation -- Economic aspects -- Mexico -- California, Gulf of.
California, Gulf of (Mexico) -- Commerce.
California, Gulf of (Mexico) -- Environmental conditions.
NATURE -- Animals -- Marine Life.
NATURE -- Endangered Species.
NATURE -- Environmental Conservation & Protection.
Commerce. (OCoLC)fst00869279
Endangered ecosystems. (OCoLC)fst00909648
Endangered species. (OCoLC)fst00909658
Phocoena sinus. (OCoLC)fst01061199
Poaching. (OCoLC)fst01067580
Rare mammals. (OCoLC)fst01090173
Totoaba fisheries. (OCoLC)fst01153066
Wildlife conservation. (OCoLC)fst01175253
Pacific Ocean -- Gulf of California. (OCoLC)fst01333849
Genre/Form Creative nonfiction.
Added Author Safina, Carl, 1955- writer of foreword.
ISBN 9781610919319 (hardcover)
1610919319 (hardcover)
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