Communities across Baja California Sur gathered on July 14 for National Gulf of California Day, staging beach cleanups, art exhibitions, and children’s workshops in five cities. The annual observance, organized under the theme “Honor, Celebrate, and Protect the Gulf of California,” offered a public reminder that the Sea of Cortez faces compounding threats from overfishing, rising water temperatures, and plastic pollution, even as it remains the economic engine of the peninsula.
UNESCO Listed the Gulf of California in 2005 for Its Biodiversity
The Gulf of California, also called the Sea of Cortez, stretches roughly 1,100 kilometers between the Baja peninsula and mainland Mexico. UNESCO designated the “Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California” as a World Heritage Site in 2005, citing the region as home to 891 fish species, 39 percent of the world’s marine mammal species, and a third of the planet’s cetacean species. Jacques Cousteau once called it “the world’s aquarium.”
That reputation has come under pressure. A 2024 study by CONANP, Mexico’s national commission for natural protected areas, documented continued illegal gillnet fishing in the Upper Gulf, the last habitat of the critically endangered vaquita porpoise. Fewer than ten vaquitas are believed to survive. Sea surface temperatures in the Gulf have risen roughly 1.5 degrees Celsius over the past four decades, according to data from Mexico’s national ocean monitoring program. Warmer water disrupts spawning cycles for commercially important species like yellowtail, grouper, and sardine.
Plastic pollution adds another layer of stress. A 2023 survey by the University of Baja California Sur in La Paz found microplastic concentrations in Gulf sediment samples at levels comparable to heavily polluted Mediterranean sites. The study sampled 14 coastal locations between La Paz and Loreto.
Mexico established National Gulf of California Day by presidential decree in 2018, setting July 14 as the annual date. The day was designed to mobilize public participation in conservation, not just among scientists and officials but among fishermen, artists, families, and schoolchildren.
La Paz Volunteers Cleaned El Conchalito Wetland
In La Paz, the event “For the Love of the Gulf: Let’s Take Care of El Conchalito” brought volunteers to the El Conchalito wetland, one of the city’s last remaining mangrove ecosystems. El Conchalito sits along the southern edge of the La Paz bay and has faced encroachment from urban development for years. Mangroves act as nurseries for juvenile fish and as natural barriers against storm surges, making their preservation a practical concern for a city built along the waterfront.
In San Ignacio, about 750 kilometers north of La Paz, young people participated in educational programs on Gulf biodiversity through films, games, and conservation activities. San Ignacio sits near the Laguna San Ignacio biosphere reserve, one of the last undeveloped gray whale calving lagoons in the world.
In Santa Rosalía, a women’s sketchbook club explored collage and literature by women, incorporating the sea’s cultural significance into artistic work. Santa Rosalía, a former copper mining town on the Gulf coast, depends heavily on small-scale fishing for its local economy.
In Cabo San Lucas, children participated in “I Will Be Their Voice,” a painting and drawing workshop where kids created art advocating for Gulf wildlife. In San José del Cabo, the Los Cabos Art Garden organized an exhibition at Plaza Mijares featuring works inspired by the Gulf’s marine ecosystems and landscapes.
Year-Round Conservation Groups Work Between the Headlines
The July 14 events are visible, but several organizations operate in the Gulf year-round. Niparajá, a La Paz-based conservation group founded in 1990, manages community fisheries monitoring programs along the BCS coast. The group helped establish the Balandra Protected Area in 2012, shielding 2,512 hectares of mangrove and coastline north of La Paz from development.
Pelagios Kakunjá, also based in La Paz, runs long-term shark and ray research programs in the Gulf. Their tagging data has contributed to catch regulations for hammerhead sharks in Mexican waters. Costasalvaje, now part of the International Community Foundation, has worked on marine protected area enforcement along the Pacific and Gulf coasts of Baja since 2000.
CONANP oversees 16 federally protected natural areas within the Gulf of California. But the commission’s budget has been cut repeatedly since 2019, and enforcement staff across all of Mexico’s protected areas has fallen by roughly 30 percent over five years, according to reporting by Mexican environmental outlets.
The next major conservation milestone comes in September, when Mexico’s Environment Ministry is expected to release updated management plans for three Gulf marine reserves. Reporting on the July 14 events was published by the Gringo Gazette.