A miracle has occurred and boy are we excited! Turns out we aren’t the only ones, either, as Scientists around the world are finding the success at the Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park in Baja California Sur overwhelming, seeing the results as a blueprint for endangered reefs around the world.
Less than 20 years ago Cabo Pulmo, located about 65 miles east of Cabo San Lucas, was a small fishing village with a big problem: Overfishing had brought the 20,000 year old reef to near extinction, seeing whole species disappearing, an aggressive algae takeover, and incessant coral bleaching. The change affected more than the environment and its inhabitants, but also the economy of the area. For years migrant fishers from mainland Mexico had come to make their living upon hearing about the oasis that lived under the waters - a reef teeming with life and vibrancy according to John Steinbeck’s The Log of the Sea of Cortez. By the end of the 1980s, the reef was a skeleton of its former metropolis, seeing more than 800 marine species all but disappear. As fish became more difficult to find, the economy of the area declined, and residents began to fear for their livelihood, and what the future of Cabo Pulmo may hold for their children.
In 1995 Mexico’s President Ernesto Zedillo answered the call from locals to legally declare the reef a Natural Protected Area (NPA), designating the 27 square mile area spanning the distance between Pulmo Point and Los Frailes Cape, a federally protected National Marine Park. Fishing was no longer allowed and stringent consequences followed when the law was broken. Less than a decade later, scientists around the world were astounded by the rebirth the reef had experienced, with one National Geographic Explorer in Residence saying that marine life was so abundant, he had no visual on his team member who was in the water just fifteen meters away.
Fish biomass had increased by 460%, bringing the reef to a level of biomass similar to that of pristine coral reefs that have never been fished. In addition, whale sharks, manta rays, humpback whales and endangered sea turtle populations rebounded. One scientist said that after the rebirth of Cabo Pulmo, he saw more sharks in one dive than he had in the previous 10 years of diving throughout the Gulf of California.
The experiment at Cabo Pulmo is to be used as a blueprint for other decaying reefs the world over - including those in the Gulf of California. In contrast to the resurrected ecosystem found after the NPA was declared, all other sites in the Gulf of California that scientists revisited were as degraded as ten years earlier, showing that it is possible to bring back the former richness of the ocean that human beings have obliterated, but that without our dedication, the degradation will continue. For further information, or to book a private tour to Cabo Pulmo, please visit http://www.bajacabopulmo.com/. In the U.S. or Canada call: 541-325-7369, in Mexico call 612-152-9940.
