Learn more about what's going on in the Northern Gulf of California. 

Conservation News: Essential Rocky Habitat Saved from Destruction
After three years of legal battles the Mexican Secretary of the Environment determined that the Sandy Beach Resorts Marina, between Sandy Beach and La Cholla, could not be authorized to continue. The project would have destroyed vital rocky reef habitat. The basis for this decision was the lack of hard scientific evidence to state that the project would not have significant impacts on the environment. This ruling will stop the destruction of a shallow rocky reef that has immense ecological and social importance, including being used as a marine reserve by local commercial divers to promote sustainable fisheries, elevated levels of biodiversity, presence of several protected species and its proximity to the Upper Gulf Biosphere Reserve.
- Read more about this exciting news here.

CEDO Announces Protections for Critical Northern Gulf Wetlands
In coordination with World Weltands Day, which is February 2, CEDO announces that Adairs Bay has been recognized as an Internationally Important Wetland under the Ramsar Convention. Adairs Bay was chosen because the wetlands of the northern Gulf of California are hyper saline (saltier than seawater), have a high productivity, are part of the Pacific corridor for migratory birds, and serve as reproductive sites for shrimp, flounder and blue crab. The areas and esteros in Adairs Bay are indispensable to the economic health of this region - especially for fisheries and tourism. Read on here...

Sea Turtles Galore in the Northern Gulf of California
The end of October 2008 brought sightings of four different sea turtles offshore of Peñasco and San Felipe. Juvenile and baby turtles were observed feeding and nesting. For the first time in the Pacific an adult Hawksbill sea turtle equipped with satellite tagging was released to monitor migration and nesting sites of the most critically endangered of all sea turtles.
Read more here...

* Click on the photos to view a larger, more detailed view of the turtles.

 

Unprecedented: Fishing Communities Retiring Their Gillnets to Save the Vaquita
In an unprecedented move, Upper Gulf fishing communities are retiring their gill nets in an effort to save the critically endangered vaquita. Some fishermen are starting new businesses, others are hoping to switch gear to use more eco-friendly fishing methods that don’t harm vaquita. Government subsidies are helping to get  these businesses going, but your support will keep them operating, click here to learn more about this extraordinary move and how you can help...

An Update: Monitoring the Endangered Vaquita
Research is underway to test sensitive acoustic techniques that may help monitor changes in the endangered vaquita population numbers. Researchers from Mexico’s National Institute of Ecology (INE) and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are now offshore of San Felipe, Baja California, where the vaquita population is concentrated, conducting research that may give us the needed tools to measure population size. To read more click here...

Canada and U.S. Governments Join Mexico in the Race to Save the Vaquita Porpoise
At a meeting in Mexicali, Baja California on October 28, 2008 the North American Committee for Environmental Cooperation announced its tri-national plan to protect the world’s most endangered marine mammal, the vaquita. Known as the North American Conservation Plan (NACAP) for Vaquita, it establishes a tri-national outlook for developing actions to protect this critically endangered porpoise, of concern to all three countries, and to support development of sustainable livelihoods for the communities of the Upper Gulf of California, the only place in the world where this porpoise is found. Read on here...