Extinction alert issued over critically endangered vaquita

The International Whaling Commission has issued the first "extinction alert" in its 70-year history, to warn of the danger facing the vaquita, the world's tiniest and most critically endangered marine mammal. A recent study shows that the small porpoise, found only in the Gulf of California in Mexico, has only 10 individuals left. It has been driven to the edge of extinction due to entanglement in fishing nets known as "gillnets", which are now illegal in the area. The scientific committee of the IWC said in a statement it had grave concerns over the survival of the vaquita and had…