About us

Two vaquitas, 2008. Photos taken under permit (Oficio No. DR/488/08 from the Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (CONANP/Secretaría del Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT), within a natural protected area subject to special management and decreed as such by the Mexican Government. Photo Credit: Paula Olson.

We are a US registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity dedicated to saving Mexico’s endemic porpoise la vaquita marina (Phocoena sinus) from extinction.

We partner with Mexican organizations to support adoption of fishing gear that poses no risk to vaquitas, and to search for and eliminate illegal nets from the Vaquita Refuge. We also support research on the status of vaquitas, which is critical to convince authorities that the species remains viable.

Our work has been supported by the US Marine Mammal Commission and the CITES Secretariat.

The following articles about the plight of the vaquita were written or contributed to by CetAct’s Executive Director Kristin Nowell:

Brookings Institution Order From Chaos (July 26 2021): A Porpoise to Serve – Rescuing the vaquita and the US-Mexico relationship

La Reforma Mexico Today (May 7 2021): Restore US-Mexico seafood trade and save the vaquita

ECO magazine UN Ocean Science Decade special digital issue (May 2021): Saving Mexico’s Vaquita Porpoise – Beyond Science to Compliance for Sustainable Ocean Solutions

XR Writers Rebel (March 18 2021): Watching an Extinction

Mongabay News and Inspiration from Nature’s Frontline (February 21 2021): In the fight to save the vaquita, conservationists take on the cartels

Moonrise over vaquita habitat. Photo Andrew Wegst.