International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita has warned Mexico's vaquita marina is edging closer to extinction.
Only 30 were left despite efforts to intercept illegal fishing nets destroying the world's smallest porpoise.
Following the current rate of loss, the vaquita will decline by 2022 until the current gillnet ban is maintained and enforced effectively.
Previous census between September and December 2015 had found around 60 vaquitas.
There were 200 of them in 2012 and 100 in 2014.
A large fish called totoaba is frequently the prey which is targeted and in whose fishing nets, the vaquitas are inadvertantly caught.
Totobas are eaten in soup in China where they are sold for thousands of dollars.
The porpoise is also known as the panda of the sea because of the dark rings around the eyes.
This cretacian is 5 feet in length.
The vaquitas currently exist in the Gulf of California only.
Vessels, small aircrafts, and dolphins trained by the US Navy could also be used to locate vaquitas.
President Enrique Pena Nieto deployed the navy in 2015 to stop illegal fishing, increased the vaquita protection area and imposed a two-year ban on gillnets. Drones joined the effort in 2016.
There have been calls for permanent ban on all gillnets and that their sale or possession on land in the vaquita region be made illegal. Also more vigorous efforts to prosecute totoaba smulggers or anyone connected with illegal fishing are on.
