Remember when your entire extended family got together for that awkward reunion, and you realized you could count everyone on two hands? Well, it seems like Mexico’s critically endangered vaquita marina porpoises have taken a page out of your family reunion playbook. Recent sightings in the Gulf of California indicate their population has dwindled to just between six and eight lonely souls.

This year's expedition, undertaken by the conservation group Sea Shepherd in May, sighted only about a half dozen vaquitas. This, unfortunately, marks a step down from last year when experts estimated they saw from 10 to 13 vaquitas during a sighting expedition. What began as a small glimpse of hope has now shrunk faster than your grandpa's patience for new technology.

Unlike last year, this expedition wasn't as extensive, which could somewhat explain the fewer sightings. The sighting search lacked the intensive reach it had before, conducting less exhaustive surveys.

One of the more heartbreaking facts of this year's expedition is the absence of baby vaquitas. Unlike sightings last year that included endearing juveniles – the aquatic equivalent of spotting toddlers at a family gathering – this year there were none.

As if limited sightings weren't disheartening enough, a significant number of last year's sightings occurred outside and just west of the vaquitas’ exclusive protection zone. The vaquitas have become experts in hide-and-seek, staying clear of the zone designed to protect them, potentially demonstrating more street smarts than the regulations ensuring their safety.

Vaquitas are like elusive celebrities, mostly visible only from afar with the help of powerful binoculars, making sightings probable or likely rather than certain. They also emit 'clicks' that can be detected through acoustic monitoring devices – essentially their aquatic version of Instagram, where even their clicks are becoming rare.

Adding to the population's challenges, local fishermen have started removing these acoustic devices (CPODs) used to capture vaquita clicks, leading to lost data. It's almost as if the fishermen are less concerned with science and more with avoiding incrimination.

Last year’s positive sighting expedition had sparked a tiny ember of hope for the vaquita’s recovery. But as if written by a tragic playwright, this year's report turned out to be another piece of bad news for the species. The ghost of illegal gillnets continues to haunt the vaquita population, with these nets having trapped and killed vaquitas for decades.

From a once reasonable population of nearly 600 vaquitas in 1997, the numbers have plummeted. Fishermen have been setting gillnets to catch totoaba, whose swim bladder is considered a delicacy in China and can fetch thousands of dollars per pound. These gillnets, while lucrative for totoaba fishermen, act as deadly curtains for the vaquitas.

Despite efforts by the Mexican government to deter net fishing, such as inserting concrete blocks with hooks to snag nets in the protected area, results have been less than stellar. It turns out the nets may be more tenacious, and optimistically inclined than the government's deterrents.

Alex Olivera of the Center for Biological Diversity cautioned that vaquitas reproduce so slowly, they might as well be the oceanic equivalent of dodo birds. Without significant intervention, recovery seems impossible, and their survival remains in serious doubt.

Indeed, Olivera notes that even in a gillnet-free habitat, it could take about 50 years for the vaquita population to bounce back to its level from 15 years ago. Fifteen years feels like a stretch goal for the vaquitas under the current circumstances.

Meanwhile, conservation groups like Sea Shepherd work alongside the Mexican Navy to discourage illegal fishing in the protected area. However, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration has largely declined to spend money to compensate fishermen to stay out of the vaquita's refuge, stop using gillnets, or even to monitor their presence thoroughly.

So, while the state of the vaquita marina porpoises lends itself more to tragic omens than hopeful reunions, conservation efforts continue. It’s a reminder that sometimes, when counting attendees at a family reunion or porpoises in the sea, fewer is not always merrier.