President Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday reversed a controversial decree that would have transformed Loreto’s small harbor into a deep-water port open to cruise ships and heavy maritime traffic. The new order, published May 25 in Mexico’s federal register, formally revokes the April 10 Loreto port decree and creates a Working Group to update protections for the Loreto Bay National Park. The reversal caps a six-week citizen campaign that drew support from scientists, fishermen, expat residents, and ultimately the governor of Baja California Sur.
April 10 Decree Reclassified Loreto as a Deep-Sea Port
The original decree, signed by Sheinbaum on April 10, reclassified Loreto as a “puerto de altura,” a deep-sea cabotage port. That legal status would have allowed large commercial vessels and cruise ships to dock at a harbor currently used by small fishing boats and modest tourist pangas. The decree arrived without public consultation and without environmental review from CONANP, Mexico’s national commission for natural protected areas.
The problem was geographic. Loreto’s harbor sits inside the boundaries of the Loreto Bay National Park, a federally protected area established by presidential decree in 1996. The park covers 206,581 hectares of sea and islands in the Sea of Cortez. UNESCO inscribed the Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California as a World Heritage Site in 2005, and Loreto Bay is one of the component sites. As a signatory to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, Mexico is legally bound to protect the site’s ecological integrity.
The park’s waters are home to blue whales, humpback whales, sperm whales, dolphins, California sea lions, and the fishing bat, a rare species found in only a handful of coastal caves. Five islands within the park, including Isla del Carmen and Isla Coronados, shelter endemic reptile and plant species. Marine biologists have documented more than 800 species of fish and marine invertebrates in the area.
Protests Built From Local Rallies to a Governor’s Petition
Opposition began almost immediately after the April 10 decree was published. Loreto residents organized marches through the town’s historic centro, where the population is roughly 20,000 year-round. Local fishing cooperatives warned that deep-draft vessel traffic would disrupt whale migration routes and damage the reefs where commercially important species like yellowtail and cabrilla breed.
The campaign quickly expanded beyond Loreto. Academics from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur in La Paz published open letters. Conservation groups with ties to the expat community, including the Loreto-based Grupo Ecologista Antares, mobilized social media campaigns. A change.org petition gathered tens of thousands of signatures.
The turning point came when Baja California Sur Governor Víctor Manuel Castro publicly signed the change.org petition and sent a formal letter to Sheinbaum requesting revocation. A sitting governor from the president’s own Morena party breaking ranks on a federal decree is rare in Mexican politics. Castro framed the issue in economic terms: Loreto’s tourism economy depends on its reputation as a pristine, low-impact destination. The town holds Mexico’s “Pueblo Mágico” designation, a federal cultural tourism label that draws visitors seeking small-town character, not cruise terminals.
Working Group Must Convene Within 10 Days
The May 25 decree does more than simply cancel the port reclassification. Article 2 orders the creation of a Working Group within 10 days. That body will be tasked with updating the management program for the Loreto Bay National Park and drafting new administrative regulations for navigation inside the port.
An official from the Interior Ministry (Secretaría de Gobernación) will chair the group. Members will include representatives from the Navy Ministry, the Environment Ministry (SEMARNAT), the Tourism Ministry, and CONANP. A state port official will serve as technical secretary. The decree also reserves five seats for citizens “from the academic, professional, social, scientific and cultural fields recognized for their trajectory in the defense of the Loreto Bay National Park.”
The citizen seats are significant. Mexico’s environmental management programs are typically drafted by federal agencies with limited public input. Giving named community advocates a formal role in rewriting Loreto Bay’s navigation rules is unusual. The specifics of who fills those seats, and how binding the group’s recommendations will be, remain to be determined.
Loreto’s Tourism Economy Runs on Ecological Reputation
Loreto draws roughly 150,000 visitors per year, a fraction of Los Cabos’ numbers but enough to sustain a growing hospitality sector. The town’s appeal rests on kayaking, sport fishing, whale watching, and island excursions inside the national park. Several boutique hotels and residential developments along the Loreto Bay coastline, including the Loreto Bay community at Nopoló, house hundreds of Canadian and American homeowners.
A deep-water port capable of receiving cruise ships carrying 3,000 to 5,000 passengers would have strained Loreto’s limited freshwater supply, its two-lane highway, and its modest commercial district. Loreto has no wastewater treatment capacity for that scale of visitor surge. The town’s single desalination plant, operated by OOMSAPAS (the local municipal water utility), already struggles to meet residential demand during peak winter months.
The Working Group must convene by approximately June 4, ten days from the May 25 decree. Its first task will be updating the park’s management program, a document that has not been revised since its original publication. Reports from El Universal, El Porvenir, VanguardiaMX, and Hoy BCS contributed to this article.