MEXICO-CONSERVATION-VAQUITA

Fishermen catch scallops ("atrina maura") at the Gulf of California, near Puertecitos, 90 kilometers south of San Felipe, Baja California state, northwestern Mexico on March 9, 2018. It is not a drug, but its illegal trade generates tens of thousands of dollars on China's black market: the totoaba bladder - an endemic fish of the Gulf in danger of extinction - is the forbidden delicacy that confronts authorities and ecologists against traffickers in the northwest of Mexico. This crossfire leaves two great collateral victims: the vaquita marina, close to its imminent extinction; and the fishing village of San Felipe, which is running out of inhabitants. / AFP PHOTO / GUILLERMO ARIAS / TO GO WITH AFP STORY by Yemeli ORTEGA and Joanna CHIU (Photo credit should read GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP via Getty Images)