Scientist Barb Taylor asked me to join a team from the RV David Starr Jordan to document what was happening 5 miles away. Bob Pitman sighted a marine mammal on the “big-eyes” moving erratically.

Windy days have dominated the past week and a half here in the northern Gulf of California frustrating researchers, local fishermen and even myself, the lone filmmaker trying to document “the story”.

Today is the beginning of my journey to search for and document the vaquita – the world’s smallest and most endangered cetacean (whale, dolphin or porpoise).

earthOCEAN speak with scientist Robert Pitman, of the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California. He recently returned from China, where he participated in an international expedition, searching for the critically endangered river dolphin called ‘baiji’. View the guide for Teachers.