Vaquitas are the smallest and rarest marine mammal. They are located in the northern end of the gulf of California in Baja California. They live up to 21 years, but now in 2023 there are 10 vaquitas left due to illegal fishing practices, particularly the use of gillnets, pose the most significant threat to the vaquita population. A healthy vaquita population would support the Gulf of California's ecosystems by balancing the populations of other species in an interdependent food web. Sea Shepherd, a non-governmental organization, partnered with official bodies and Mexico's Navy last year to boost "Operation Miracle", a project to protect the vaquita by sharing information about illegal fishing in the waters where they live, known as a Zero Tolerance Area. The vaquita is a unique animal, and an important predator. We do not know what consequences its disappearance would have for the entire ecosystem. Its decline is man-made and its extinction entirely preventable. Vaquita porpoises are critically endangered. The International Whaling Commission says their extinction is inevitable unless bans on gillnetting are better enforced. I wasn’t going to make this petition until i saw what was happening to these animals and how they are all going extinct because of humans. Together we make make this end.