Barbara Taylor

The far northern Gulf of California is home to the vaquita porpoise, Mexico’s largest endemic mammal, which has lived there for 3.5 million years. Today only about ten vaquitas remain as a result of accidental drowning in fishing nets. Dr. Barbara Taylor will discuss their past and future as well as what lessons we should learn if we want to share our coastal and river waters with porpoises and dolphins. Dr. Taylor is the leader of the Marine Mammal Genetics Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center and chair of the Marine Mammal Society’s Conservation Committee.