Mexico, DiCaprio, Slim team up to help endangered porpoise

"Now more than ever, the world is looking for bold leadership at every level to tackle climate change and environmental conservation issues", DiCaprio said in a statement. This action aims to "ensure that the Gulf of California will remain alive and productive, especially for endangered species such as vaquita", the actor said at the signing of the agreement, as the Mexican presidency announced.

Other organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund, Sea Shepherd and the Marisla Foundation also backed the initiative. That is down from about 600 individuals in a 1997 survey, and the porpoise is classified as "critically endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in its Red List of Threatened Species. The nets - used to catch another species, the totoaba fish - have contributed to wiping out the vaquita.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto met Hollywood star DiCaprio and Slim in his official residence in Mexico City to sign a memorandum of understanding committing to conserve marine life in the Gulf of California, including the vaquita.

The agreement struck by President Enrique Pena Nieto, multibillionaire telecoms magnate Carlos Slim and DiCaprio sets the goal of ending gillnet use in the upper Gulf and makes permanent an earlier temporary ban.

Totoaba maws or swim bladders for sale in China

Because illegal traders pay thousands of dollars per kilogram of the swim bladders, efforts to curb totoaba fishing have been ineffective and the number of surviving vaquitas has fallen rapidly.

We wouldn't want to lose those little porpoises forever. These nets are used primarily to catch totoaba, a fish whose swim bladder is a prized delicacy in China.

Authorities will begin catching the remaining porpoises later this year and try to rehabilitate them and increase their population in a protected marine sanctuary.

- Implementing and enforcing limited entry and exit points throughout the region for all fishing through certified inspectors. "That is why we have implemented an historic effort to avoid the extinction of a unique species in the world and also to protect important ecosystems". He also tweeted pictures of the meeting. With this agreement, the Mexican government is committed to stepping up efforts to protect the marine ecosystem of the Californian Bay where the vaquita (Spanish cow) lives, in particular, there are only 30 such marine mammals left in this habitat. "Protecting the vaquita from gillnets and ensuring the people of the region have access to sustainable livelihoods are essential if we are to save this species". But gillnets can cause the death of animals, including the vaquita, that get trapped in them.