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Last Glimpse
Acrylic & ink on canvas, 36x48 $2500 (Scroll down for purchase details) Sold unframed Upon learning about the current plight of the smallest porpoise on earth and it's possible extinction I felt I needed to shine some light on it. The Vaquita is the most critically endangered porpoise species. The single most serious threat to the vaquita porpoises are gill nets. A gill net is a wall of netting that hangs in the water column. The mesh is designed so that fish can get their heads through, but not the rest of their bodies. As they struggle to free themselves, they get entangled with their gills. Most animals drown, and those that escape often do so with severe injuries. How many Vaquitas are left in the world in 2020? The latest report by the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita (CIRVA) estimates that only between 6 and 22 individuals remained alive in 2018. It is possible, though, that there are no more than 10 vaquitas left. The vaquita is the smallest porpoise, getting to about 5ft in length at maturity, and the smallest cetacean. It lives only in the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez). The use of gill nets in the vaquita habitat is currently banned throughout the vaquita’s range. However, illegal fishing continues. Since I live in North Carolina, it is worth noting that while only a few states still allow gill netting (with heavy restrictions), North Carolina is the last that uses gill nets in such a widespread commercial capacity. North Carolina has the highest commercial harvest of any other state in the USA for Red Drum, Speckled Trout, and Southern Flounder. If you are interested in making a difference, Just so you know, more than 300,000 porpoises, whales and dolphins drown as by-catch every year. But that is avoidable, and your choice as a consumer can help prevent accidental entanglement. Whenever you shop for seafood, make sure you always choose sustainably caught fish and shellfish. Never buy unlabelled seafood products. Look for the symbols of sustainable seafood programs like MSC (worldwide), Seafood Watch (United States) or Ocean Wise and SeaChoice (Canada) and encourage your friends and family to do the same. To find out more click HERE To Adopt click HERE To see my adopted Vaquita Certificate click HERE Species Profile Card click HERE I often infuse my work with clusters of symbols organized in different ways. These symbols represent all aspects of life on the planet, like biology, chemistry, alchemy, technology, mathematics, pop culture, tribal symbols and icons of my own. Humanity’s impact on our world is so profound and life altering that it seems all exists either in chaos, perpetual conflict or imbalance between humans, technology and nature. Going through creating these clusters allows me to organize and digest the chaos, and literally open up space to breathe within the work and myself. Otherwise, all open space would be filled with chaos. My work, though it tells hard truths about how human behaviors and consumption habits affect life, it is about hope that the human race will create a sustainable planet where life and technological advances can live in balance. |
Setting is provided to show approximate scale only
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*works are sold unframed unless specified. Pictures shown with frame are for display purposes only.
