Mexico Declares World’s Largest Preserve : Gray Whales Given Safe Harbors for Breeding in Lagoons of Baja Coast

The Mexican government is creating what it says will be the world’s largest wildlife preserve to safeguard the gray whale, which migrates to the Baja California coast each year.

It is the longest journey of any mammal, from the waters of northern seas off Alaska to the lagoons of Mexico to give birth and then mate each winter.

Mexican officials say the land and sea “reserve of the biosphere” is necessary to protect the whales and other species from the effects of development and overzealous tourists, as well as to provide facilities for scientists to carry out studies.

They take special glee in noting that the other stops along the whales’ route, Canada and the United States, have yet to take such stringent measures to protect the once nearly extinct species.

3-Month Trip

The whales leave the northern waters each October and travel toward Baja California, swimming four to five miles each day and staying 5 to 10 miles off the coast the entire way. They generally reach Mexico in December and remain until March.

Spouts of water vapor glistening in the sun announce the whales’ presence at Scammon’s Lagoon, whose Spanish name is Ojo de Liebre, located almost midway down the long peninsula.

Then the noise of their movement, a powerful swoosh, breaks the sea’s stillness. The whales themselves, or at least parts of them since the 35-ton animals surface bits at a time, are visible after the noise.

The 7.2-million-acre reserve takes in much of the peninsula’s Biscayne Desert and extends into the open sea.

‘Acted Responsibly’

Three previous decrees had established refuges for the whales in the waters of the four major lagoon areas used by the whales, but ecologists say it was not enough to consider the marine zone as a separate entity from the land.

“We have acted responsibly,” Urban Development and Ecology Secretary Manuel Camacho Solis said in announcing the plans. “It is an integral system . . . to protect the habitat.”

Scientists and ecological activists caution that the decree, although important, must be followed by serious control and supervision of the area if it is to prove effective.

“I think it is a very great effort of Mexico to decree such a large area a biological reserve, in a country that is economically in crisis,” said poet Homero Aridjis, leader of the ecological activist Group of 100. “I couldn’t think of anything better. It’s magnificent.”

Year-Long Campaign

Aridjis campaigned for the past year calling for greater government protection for the whales.

Although the middle of the Baja California peninsula is sparsely populated, the large Salt Exporting Co. complex is located close by Scammon’s Lagoon, a center of the whales’ activity.

The complex, known as ESSA, has joint Mexican government and Japanese private ownership. It is the largest open salt mine in the world, exporting some 5 million tons annually.

The maritime traffic has raised concern that diesel fuel spills could affect the lagoons.

The government plan requires ESSA to present an environmental program.

Solid Waste a Threat

An Ecology Department study found that construction of piers and canals and the increase of solid waste in the area as the human population grew had affected the lagoons that are crucial to the whales’ reproduction.

Mexican communal farms in the area, known as ejidos, also affect the whales’ habitat.

Tourism, especially boats that travel down the coast from California in the area, will be regulated more strictly under the government’s new program.

T-shirts sold in Guerrero Negro, essentially a salt company town with few tourist attractions, trumpet: “Visit Baja California. 15,000 Whales Can’t Be Wrong.”

Disturbed by Noise

Tourism within reasonable limits is not regarded as automatically harmful to the whales, although the noise of the boats disturbs them.

Biologist Luis Fleischer, director of the national research program that has studied the marine mammals each winter for the last decade, said, “Well-run tourism can be beneficial, creating sympathy and interest.”

The gray whale, unique in its coast-hugging habits, was hunted virtually to extinction by 1930. Restrictions on commercial whaling since have helped bring about a comeback, and scientists now estimate that there are as many as 18,000 gray whales.

Anelio Aguayo, a leading researcher on whales at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said some whales now have been found that cross the tip of Baja California to reproduce on the Gulf of California coastline.

Hopes for Cooperation

He also said he hopes Canada and the United States will follow Mexico’s example and protect other areas along the whale’s migratory corridor, where industrial development often is greater.

“It’s not only up to the government of Mexico to declare zones of refuge and areas of protection for the gray whale,” he said.