Totoaba ( Totoaba macdonaldi) is the largest member of the Scia enidae family and are endemic to the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez). Totoaba are very long-lived and may attain ages of up to 25 years or more, reaching sizes larger than 2 meters in length and 1 35 Kg. Pertaining to the croaker family, the Totoaba can create sounds with their well-developed swim bladder.
Totoaba swim bladder, also called Fish Maw or Buche, is highly prized by Chinese as an aphrodisiac and for fertility assistance, as well as a status symbol. T he illegal fishing of Totoaba for the black market of Buches in the northern Gulf has driven the species into endangered population status. Commercial fishing was prohibited in 1975, but after many governmental impositions and regulations involving Totoaba and the by-catch of Vaquita, illegal fishing continues .
In attempts of protecting Totoaba and repopulating the species in the Gulf of California, one private company (Earth Ocean Farms - EOF) and two institutions from the public sector; Center for Reproduction of Marine Species of Sonora (CREMES) and the Autonom ous University of Baja California (UABC) function as UMA´s (Ambiental Monitoring Units) and have closed the life cycle of Totoaba in marine hatcheries. These three entities have liberated more than 400,000 Totoaba in the Gulf of California. The UABC has released juveniles in Baja California between San Felipe and Puertecitos; CREMES near Bahia Kino in Sonora, and EOF in Mulege and Santispac in Baja California Sur. These efforts have aided in strengthening the population, in light of the continued illegal overfishing of Totoaba. The population of Totoaba is now observed 400 Kms to the south of its historical distribution. These three restocking sites act as recruitment areas, and the geographic distribution of recruitment increases the sustainability of the population.
It is imperative that illegal fishing of Totoaba cease immediately, and that the re-stocking programs continue in efforts of counteracting the effects of overfishing . It has also been recommended that mariculture of the species, as is the case with EOF, could produce a legal supply of swim bladder for the Asian market, and this legal trade should remove incentive to poach wild Totoaba for their swim bladders. This would be a win-win situation for the Totoaba and the Vaquita. With genetic traceability of juveniles produced by the UMA ´s, the black-market trade of Totoaba swim bladders would decrease and eventually cease.