No Trade Measures Imposed Over Endangered Vaquita and Totoaba Trafficking

Although the administration does not believe Mexico is doing enough to help its vaquita population recover, President Joe Biden said he isn't ready "to impose trade measures on Mexican products" because he expects high-level dialogue with Mexico on how to implement its CITES action plan and assistance to Mexico to build capacity in anti-trafficking (if it requests such assistance) to address the problem. CITES stands for Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Biden, in a letter to Congress published July 17, said that the State, Interior and Commerce departments and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will develop an assessment of Mexico's enforcement actions against illegal totoaba fishing and smuggling, and the implementation of its CITES plan. That assessment will be due by July 2024.

The administration said it wants to see Mexico expand enforcement beyond the Zero Tolerance Area.

"Despite international protections and Mexico’s domestic ban on totoaba fishing, the illegal harvest and international trade in totoaba has continued in response to the ongoing demand in the People’s Republic of China," the letter said. "With the price of a single totoaba swim bladder estimated at thousands of dollars, the incentive for illegal harvest and trade is high." The letter said many of the swim bladders are smuggled into the U.S. before being sent to China.

The U.S. briefly stopped importing CITES-listed species in March, after the CITES Secretariat said Mexico was not meeting its CITES obligations (see 2303290054). After Mexico submitted an action plan to improve enforcement against illegal fishing in the Gulf of California, the secretariat said trade could resume, and the U.S. then did resume trade in April (see 2304140062).

In May, the Interior Department certified to the president that this smuggling was happening, which led conservation groups to drop their lawsuits (see 2306020054). That action led to this announcement.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society partnered with the Mexican government to remove gillnets from the zero-tolerance area, and, the administration said, on June 26, Sea Shepherd said that area was “functionally gillnet free.”

"These steps are important, but insufficient to ensuring the recovery of the vaquita," the letter said, referring to the gillnet eradication and the CITES compliance plan. The administration added: "The Government of Mexico must do more to prevent this illegal trade, enforce against illegal totoaba fishing across its full range, and protect these species, or it is likely that the totoaba population will continue to decline and the vaquita will soon become extinct."