Why We Are Here
Each winter gray whales migrate from their North Pacific and Arctic summer feeding range to their winter breeding and calving areas along the Pacific coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula. There are three locations where the whales concentrate during the winter. Laguna Ojo de Liebre (also known as Scammon's Lagoon) in the north, Laguna San Ignacio, and Bahía Magdalena in the southern portion of the peninsula.
Our gray whale research focuses on Laguna San Ignacio and Bahía Magdalena in Baja California Sur. Laguna San Ignacio is the center of a unique marine ecosystem surrounded by and part of the “Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve,” and is included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site: “Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaíno.” World-wide attention was focused on Laguna San Ignacio in the late 1990s when it was targeted as the site for an industrial scale solar salt production facility; a project that would have significantly altered the lagoon ecosystem, perhaps irreversibly. Since the defeat of the salt facility proposal, community residents, fishing co-operatives, and local entrepreneurs have developed sustainable eco-tourism programs focusing on the winter-time abundance of gray whales.
Watch Video on Laguna San Ignacio
Bahía Magdalena includes three areas where gray whales aggregate in winter: Canal La Soledad in the north, central Bahía Magdalena, and Bahía Almejas in the south. Our research in these locations includes boat surveys for abundance and distribution, photographic identification, monitoring whale-watching activities, and community workshops in San Carlos, Puerto Chale and López Mateos to discuss the research program, its findings and engage with the local community and schools.
Annually whale-watching companies host thousands of whale-watchers and eco-tourists from many countries, which provide the economic basis for maintaining these marine wilderness reserves and support the livelihoods of the residents. As economic and social development progresses these communities are preparing for eventual growth by implementing a community development plan and encouraging sustainable growth and environmentally responsible resource use practices. Through education, information sharing, and responsible management, they are striving to become stewards of these protected marine “ecosystems.” By providing science-based information about gray whales and education programs we contribute to the strengthening of their community’s awareness of the need to balance development and the conservation of Laguna San Ignacio and Bahía Magdalena and living marine resources in these areas for the future.