Asian Diver and Scuba Diver No. 4/2017 Volume 148 | Page 10

WHAT BUBBLED
mission was completed successfully
before she was attacked by a Japanese
submarine, which brought her down in
just 12 minutes.
For over 70 years, no one could
locate her whereabouts till a vital clue
was found in 2016. Dr. Richard Hulver,
a historian of the Naval History and
Heritage Command, confirmed that the
Indianapolis passed the ST-779, a tank
landing ship, 11 hours before it sank.
Researchers used this vital clue to narrow
down the wreck’s location, leading to the
successful discovery by Allen’s team.
USS INDIANAPOLIS FOUND
AFTER 72 YEARS
On August 19, 2017, the USS Indianapolis
was located by Microsoft co-founder,
Paul Allen, after 17 years of unsuccessful
expeditions. She was finally found at
a depth of 5,500 metres in the North
Philippine Sea.
The Indianapolis was a key player in
World War II; just before her sinking on
July 30, 1945, she was sent on a secret
mission to deliver components of the
atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
that ended the war in the Pacific. The
GULF OF CALIFORNIA
STATE OF THE
SPECIES
600
MEXICO
567 vaquita
500
400
340 vaquita
300
200
100
8
FIRST VAQUITA RESCUED
IN THE HOPES OF SAVING THE
ENDANGERED SPECIES
A six-month-old vaquita calf was
rescued in the Gulf of California by the
Consortium for Vaquita Conservation,
Protection, and Recovery (VaquitaCPR).
The organisation was created to develop
and implement an urgent conservation
action plan aimed at preventing the
species from going extinct. The vaquita
is the smallest porpoise in the world,
and also the most endangered cetacean
at the moment, living only in the upper
Gulf of California.
As part of the bold conservation
plan by the Mexican government to
save the endangered species, much
planning by the team of scientists and
conservationists went into the rescue,
using visual search methods and
acoustic monitoring.
Unfortunately, the marine mammal
veterinarians on site observed that
the calf started to show signs of stress,
and it was released out of caution and
returned to the spot it was found. Before
its release, scientists took various tissue
samples for analysis, which will be used
for further research.
On November 4, a female was
captured and subsequently died from
complications. VaquitaCPR announced
it would halt all further rescue attempts
as of November 10. They now focus on
conducting photographic identification
of individual animals.
59 vaquita
1997
2008
YEAR
2015
30 vaquita
2016