The region between Cabo Pulmo and Loreto is a shark migratory corridor full of islands, seamounts, and key foraging areas. Our collaborator Pelagios Kakunja has been working in this region for decades, gathering the data needed to design a management plan that will effectively recover shark populations and support local communities.

By combining shark habitat use data with hundreds of community interviews, they have designed a new management plan that would protect key shark habitats while maintaining fishing rights for small scale fishers. We have been supporting this work by leading research expeditions with them to better understand the shark movement patterns to guide the zoning of this corridor and build local capacity for environmental monitoring and ecotourism.

Overarching Goals

1. Create and establish an official migratory corridor to protect critical shark ecosystems as a
model for area-based conservation in the Gulf of California.

2. Protect critical shark ecosystems through science-based conservation,
community engagement, and policy advocacy as a model for area-based
conservation in the Gulf of California.

Objectives

1. Generate Scientific Data: Examine shark movements and connectivity, as well as shark abundance and diversity to inform conservation strategies.

2. Promote Community Engagement: Build capacity for community-led shark monitoring and conservation initiatives.

3. Consolidate a Pelagic Biological Corridor for shark and ray conservation: Strengthen the Migration Corridor Loreto-Cabo Pulmo through conservation and management mechanisms.

4. Create a campaign (“Ruta de los Tiburones”) to build public awareness and stakeholder engagement for the Migration Corridor.

5. Socialize the benefits and challenges of creating a protected migratory corridor through meetings and
workshops in the context of a socio-ecological system (social and ecological connectivity) prevalent along the Migration Corridor.