Laguna San Ignacio is the center of a unique marine ecosystem surrounded by, and part of the “Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve” established by Mexican President de la Madrid in 1988.  Previously, in 1979 then Mexican President José López Portillo declared Laguna San Ignacio a whale refuge and maritime tourist attraction zone. The lagoon is included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site: “Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaíno.” 

            The "Laguna San Ignacio Wetlands Complex" (LSIWC) comprises 248-miles of wetlands coastline that includes intertidal mudflats, salt flats, sandy beaches and red-mangrove estuaries (Figs. 1-3). As one of the world's most biologically significant coastal sites (Wildcoast 2006), the lagoon is best known for the gray whales that congregate there each winter to breed and calve. However, it is also home to dolphin, sealions, sea turtles, commercially important fish and shellfish, and multitudes of migratory waterfowl, and shore birds. Protected species such as Osprey, sea turtles, Peregrine falcons, and desert iguanas are included in its fauna.

World wide attention was focused on Laguna San Ignacio in the late 1990s when it was targeted as the site for an industrial scale solar salt production facility; a project that would have significantly altered the lagoon ecosystem, perhaps irreversibly. Since the defeat of that proposal, local residents, fishing co-operatives, and eco-tourism entrepreneurs have begun developing eco-tourism focusing on the winter-time abundance of gray whales. Today these companies annually host thousands of whale-watchers and eco-tourists from many countries. Through education and responsible management, they are striving to become stewards of the “ecosystem” and to maintain a balance between eco-tourism and the biological integrity of the lagoon as an alternative to industrial development of the area. As a hedge against future development threats, a consortium of environmental groups and local business organizations known as The San Ignacio Lagoon Alliance. Led by the non-profit organization Wildcoast (www.wildcoast.net), the Alliance has developed the “Conservation Plan for the Laguna San Ignacio Wetlands Complex” (Wildcoast 2006), and they have begun to purchase and/or economically secure the future development rights for the ejidos that control the wetlands surrounding the lagoon.

View the Laguna San Ignacio Wetlands Complex Conservation Plan.

More information on the efforts to conserve the Laguna San Ignacio Wetlands Complex visit the following web-sites:

http://graywhales.icf-xchange.org/

http://www.icfdn.org/campaigns/signacio_whalefund/fs_silwhalefund.htm