Fishing ban urged to help save porpoise

Mexican authorities faced calls on Monday to ban all fishing in the upper Gulf of California or permanently prohibit gillnets to save the vaquita marina, the world's smallest porpoise, from extinction.

Concerns about the vaquita's fate rose on Friday when scientists warned that only 60 of the sea creatures were left and could vanish by 2022 even though the navy has been patrolling their habitat.

In reaction, the World Wildlife Fund called for a full fishing ban in the vaquita's northwestern Mexico refuge.