<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/usmca-commission-urged-to-investigate-mexicos-failure-to-protect-vaquita-porpoise-2021-08-11/" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class="">https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/usmca-commission-urged-to-investigate-mexicos-failure-to-protect-vaquita-porpoise-2021-08-11/</a></span></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);" class="">USMCA Commission Urged to Investigate Mexico’s Failure to Protect Vaquita Porpoise<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;" class="">8/11/21</span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></div><p class="headline" align="center" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center; line-height: 15pt;"><em class=""><b class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="">Conservation Groups Request Enforcement Action Against Mexico</span></b></em><b class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0in; line-height: 15pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">MONTREAL— Conservation groups <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/vaquita/pdfs/CEC-SEM-Petition-Center-AWI-8-11-21.pdf" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(158, 74, 0);" class="">petitioned</span></a> the Commission on Environmental Cooperation today to investigate Mexico’s failure to enforce its fishing and trade laws. Mexico’s enforcement failures violate the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA. If those enforcement failures continue, they’ll cause the vaquita porpoise to go extinct.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0in; line-height: 15pt; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">The groups also <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/vaquita/pdfs/Letter-to-US-IEC-re-Vaquita-Enforcement-8-10-21.pdf" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(158, 74, 0);" class="">asked</span></a> the United States Trade Representative’s Interagency Environment Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement to initiate enforcement actions against Mexico under the agreement for the violations.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0in; line-height: 15pt; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Under the USCMA, the United States, Mexico and Canada committed that “no Party shall fail to effectively enforce its environmental laws.” The environmental commission was established under the agreement to address trilateral environmental concerns and promote the enforcement of environmental law.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0in; line-height: 15pt; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">The Mexican government has repeatedly failed to enforce its own fishing ban in the vaquita’s habitat in the Upper Gulf of California. In November 2020, observers documented more than 1,100 boats fishing illegally, and in July 2021, Mexico <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/mexico-drastically-eases-enforcement-in-vaquita-zero-tolerance-area-2021-07-16/" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(158, 74, 0);" class="">issued new rules</span></a> that weakened its enforcement of illegal fishing in the vaquita’s core habitat.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0in; line-height: 15pt; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">“Mexican officials have promised again and again to get illegal gillnets out of the vaquita’s habitat, but they’ve utterly failed to do so,” said Sarah Uhlemann, international program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The United States and the whole international community must finally put real pressure on Mexico to act. The Mexican government has a legal and moral obligation to save these little porpoises, and time for real action is running out.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0in; line-height: 15pt; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Only 10 vaquitas likely remain on Earth. Vaquitas become entangled and die in illegal fishing gear set to catch shrimp and finfish, including the critically endangered totoaba. The totoaba’s swim bladder is illegally traded on the international market for astronomical prices because of its purported medicinal properties.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0in; line-height: 15pt; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">“This is the most clear-cut case where the U.S. government must make use of the USMCA’s enforcement powers to rein in Mexico,” said DJ Schubert, a wildlife biologist with the Animal Welfare Institute. “For decades, Mexico has broken a string of promises to save the vaquita. Since Mexico is apparently incapable of protecting this species and its habitat, the international community must intervene.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0in; line-height: 15pt; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Today’s petition asks the Commission on Environmental Cooperation to investigate and develop a formal “factual record” on Mexico’s failures. The groups also asked the U.S. Trade Representative’s environment committee, charged with monitoring compliance with the USMCA, to initiate “consultation” with Mexico. This is the first step in the USMCA’s formal enforcement process and could eventually result in trade sanctions under the trade pact.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0in; line-height: 15pt; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">“NAFTA and the USMCA have been a disaster for North American workers and the environment,” said Zak Smith, a senior attorney at NRDC. “The times of putting corporate profits before the interests of workers and the environment must end, especially in the context of the climate and biodiversity crises. The United States should use the tools it has under the USMCA to ensure Mexico meets its obligations under the agreement to enforce its laws and keep the vaquita from going extinct.”</span></p><div class="">
Arthur Stamoulis<br class="">Citizens Trade Campaign<br class="">(202) 494-8826<br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><br class="">
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