Summary
This review paper reflects on the past 50 years of efforts to save the vaquita (Phocoena sinus) from extinction, with the primary threat being lethal bycatch in gillnets set for the totoaba fish in the upper Gulf of California. Both the conservation goals for the vaquita and the economic and social goals for the local fisheries have consistently failed to meet even the lowest stakeholder expectations, and the vaquita population has continued to decline. The authors call for an "immediate and definitive decision" to either preserve the vaquita or aid sustainable fisheries in the region, being aware of the costs of either choice and similar conservation failure stories such as with the Yangtze River dolphin in China.