Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/03/26/vaquitas-are-adorably-tiny-porpoises-and-there-are-only-about-10-remaining.html
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Mother Nature, probably:
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This situation may need a solution similar to what was done for the California condors-collect them all and keep them in a private location until their numbers improve and they have a better chance of survival.
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That’s great if you know how to keep animals alive and breeding in captivity. For sea life the requirements are not always obvious. I assume with porpoises we wouldn’t accidentally starve them, but create an environment where they feel comfortable to mate? Do we even know what conditions this species naturally does that under?
Refuges are in theory important anyway because they help preserve the ecosystem a species depends on too, as well as other vulnerable species in the area. The problem is actually treating them as refuges, as is not happening here. Because totoabas are for no real reason delicacies and quack medicine. 
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I was thinking more along the lines of a protected cove with netting and patrols to keep the fishing boats away. Just protected, not in confined captivity, not anything like an aquarium.
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Obviously humams are the big threat here, but I was curious whether dolphins were also a problem for these little guys as dolphins have been known to sometimes kill porpoises for fun. But in this case it turns out to be exactly the opposite: dolphins might be able to help save these guys:
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One reason they were able to do that with the condors is because humans were able to collect the eggs from the condors’ nests before they hatched and raised the chicks themselves, which prompted the condors to lay more frequently then they would have otherwise. Doing something like that with vaquitas might not be possible or ethical. Even if a marine biologist could nurse a vaquita from infancy, cetaceans have complex social structures, practices, cultures and even dialects passed down from parent to offspring.
Better to crack down on the humans whose fishing operations are threatening the species and leave the vaquitas to their own devices.
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Whatever they come up with now must, must, must be better than what they tried seven years ago.
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