Corredor Migratorio Loreto-Cabo Pulmo, Mexico

The southeastern coast of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico, hosts an array of diverse habitats ranging from shallow coastal reefs and lagoons to a series of deep canyons and valleys within the continental slope. Due to its complex topography and circulation patterns, the region supports high primary productivity and is a hotspot for reef fish and elasmobranchs. The area’s seamounts, in particular, create insular, highly productive ecosystems that host a richness of unique and diverse life.

Recent research has shown that the waters between two existing marine protected areas in this region – Loreto National Park and Cabo Pulmo National Park – are a critical migratory corridor for many shark species and mobula rays. They have been designated as an Important Shark and Ray Area due to their importance for the movement of threatened and endangered species. The scalloped hammerhead shark, in particular, is a keystone species that was previously abundant in the Gulf of California but has suffered due to industrial exploitation. In addition to undergoing long distance migrations across the Gulf of California, scalloped hammerheads, as well as other pelagic species and many marine mammals, utilize this region’s coastal habitats as nursery grounds and shallow seamounts as refuges with daily movements into pelagic waters for foraging.