Baja California Sur Governor Víctor Castro Cosío told Loreto residents on Monday that no large vessels will be allowed to enter the protected waters of the Bahía de Loreto National Park. The governor’s statement came after weeks of community protests over a federal decree that reclassified the Port of Loreto as a deep-water and cabotage port.
Castro Cosío said he was carrying “good news from President Claudia Sheinbaum” and announced he would make a formal statement next Tuesday. His comments indicate the April 10 administrative decree may be reversed or clarified.
Federal Decree Sparked Protests
The controversy began when the Sheinbaum administration issued a decree on April 10 reclassifying Loreto as a deep-sea cabotage port. The reclassification would have opened the small coastal town of roughly 16,000 residents to large-scale maritime traffic, including bigger cruise ships and industrial vessels.
Loreto residents responded with organized protests. The governor held at least three meetings with upset community members in recent weeks. Loreto Mayor Paz del Alma Ochoa Amador previously stated the decree could be repealed if the community opposed it.
Castro Cosío also said the port had been administered irregularly, which he claimed was the reason the administrative decree was issued in the first place. He stressed the decree was administrative in nature and was not related to environmental policy.
UNESCO Site and Blue Whale Habitat at Stake
The Bahía de Loreto National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the most ecologically sensitive marine areas on Mexico’s Pacific coast. The park’s waters are home to a wide range of marine mammals, including endangered blue whales. Roughly 283 blue whales visit the Gulf of California each year, and Loreto Bay serves as a key feeding, breeding, and reproduction area for the species.
Environmental groups had raised alarms that large vessels could produce underwater noise harmful to marine mammals. The park’s own management program acknowledges that noise from vessels larger than 12 meters near whale aggregation sites causes behavioral changes in blue whales, pushing them away from feeding and breeding zones.
What Comes Next
Loreto currently receives about 15 cruise ship visits per year. The community’s concern centered on the possibility that the port reclassification would bring far more, and far larger, vessels into the protected bay.
The governor’s formal announcement, expected Tuesday, will determine whether the decree is repealed or modified. The story was first reported by BCS Noticias.