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L a Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales species: the large and valuable gulf grouper. W hile other national parks and marine
Protegidas or CONANP has appointed By every count, the number of fish has in- protected areas are larger, Cabo Pul-
the an official Park Director to direct con- creased. But counting fish has its limitations; mo has been so successful because of the
servation efforts. Citizens, local and inter- a 5-ounce goby does not have the same im- commitment of the community to enforce
national conservation groups and the park pact on an ecosystem as a 100-pound shark. and protect the reserve. They are now be-
director are working together to imple- For that reason, scientists have a method for ing rewarded with the fruits of their labor.
ment programs such as Park Enforcement, comparing the amount of life in an ecosys- Fishing just outside the park is better than
Reef Monitoring, Nest Monitoring for Sea tem: they add up the mass of all the living before and the tourism industry has tak-
Turtles and Beach Clean-ups. More than animals and call this the “biomass.” In the en off. In 2006, tourism in the small town
20,000 years old, it is one of three coral 14 years of protection, the biomass in Cabo brought in $538,000, generating jobs for the
reefs on the American Pacific coast. Many of Pulmo increased by 463 percent and was community with income rates well above
the 800 marine species in the Sea of Cortez five times larger than the biomass in nearby the average in Mexico. In return, residents
take refuge at the reef, which studies show open-fishing areas. In 1995, the top preda- continue to enforce the park regulations,
plays a key role in the ecology of the region. tors like sharks and large grouper had all clean the beaches, and protect important
but disappeared. By 2009, the biomass of animals like nesting sea turtles. Their chal-
I n 2009, after 14 years of protection, every top predators had increased tenfold. By all lenge is ongoing, as tourism in the re-
group of fish had returned to Cabo Pulmo, measures, the protected area was a success. gion grows and puts new pressures on the
from small herbivores to mid-sized carni- In fact, Cabo Pulmo has the largest increase reefs and the fish populations. Plans were
vores to top predators. Predatory sharks, in biomass observed by scientists in any in the works for a resort only miles north
manta rays, humpback whales, sea turtles protected area. The park is so successful and of the reef that, if improperly managed,
and ospreys are among the many species so important to the recovery of local fish could seriously impact the progress made.
that now rely on Cabo Pulmo for reproduc- populations that in 2005 it was named a UN-
tion, feeding and habitat. The reef has even ESCO World Heritage Site, and in 2008 it be-
become a refuge for at least one endangered came a Ramsar International Wetlands site.
