The tiny vaquita porpoise now numbers less than 10. Can they be saved?

Now scientists say their future is more precarious than ever, after a recent survey found less than 10 individuals left in the waters of their limited home range between Baja California and Mexico.

But some say there is still hope for the endangered species that has persisted against the odds.

The US has also enacted embargoes on the Mexican seafood industry, including banning importation of seafood typically caught in gillnets in vaquita territory. Last year, the US also stopped importing all Mexican wild-caught shrimp citing concerns over sea turtle protections.

The Mexican government has outlawed totoaba fishing and made the use of gillnets in the area illegal, but few of the promised penalties have been carried out. There have also been efforts made to compensate fishers who replace the dangerous gear but the funds were not equitably distributed, frustrating fishers who were left in the lurch.

Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who oversaw a policy reversal and rolled back enforcement in the protected area has spoken out about sanctions against the Mexican seafood industry and international interventions.

Meanwhile, as enforcement from authorities waned, illegal fishing has flourished. Backed by the cartels, the expansion of the totoaba market has coincided with vaquita numbers dropping roughly 50% annually. International advocates have struggled to shift the tides.

Even those who appreciate the danger vaquitas are in have raised questions about the value of protecting them at the expense of local livelihoods. Local economies and culture are closely entwined with fisheries in the vaquita range. Even before the totoaba market exploded, gillnets were used to catch blue shrimp and other species that dwell in the biodiverse waters.

Without local support and enforcement, environmentalists say it will be even more difficult to pull the species back from the brink, especially now that time is running out.