DECRETO por el que se declara área natural protegida con el carácter de Reserva de la Biosfera, la región conocida como Alto Golfo de California y Delta del Río Colorado, ubicada en aguas del Golfo de California y los municipios de Mexicali, B.C., de Puerto Peñasco y San Luis Río Colorado, Son.

Summary

This presidential decree created the Upper Gulf of California and Colorado River Delta Biosphere Reserve, a protected area of 934,756 hectares around the northern tip of the Gulf. Inside the reserve it declares a total and indefinite ban on hunting and capturing the vaquita, the totoaba and a list of other animals, including dolphins, whales and the California sea lion.

Why it matters

It names the vaquita as a species protected from capture, and it created the protected area that the later vaquita refuge and gillnet rules sit inside.

Key findings

1. 01 Art. 1 declares a Biosphere Reserve of 934,756 hectares: a core zone called 'Delta del Río Colorado' of 164,780 hectares and a buffer zone of 769,977 hectares.
2. 02 Art. 10 declares a total and indefinite ban on hunting and capturing the vaquita marina (Phocoena sinus) and the totoaba, first on a list of species.
3. 03 The same list covers bottlenose and common dolphins, six whale species and the California sea lion, followed by several land and freshwater species.
4. 04 Art. 2 gives the reserve's conservation, administration and enforcement to the Secretaría de Desarrollo Social, and Art. 5 orders a management program.
5. 05 The preamble names the vaquita and the totoaba among species that are rare, endemic and in danger of extinction in the region.

Caveats

The decree bans capture of the listed species but does not itself regulate fishing gear or set a no-fishing area for vaquita; the text leaves fishing restrictions to the management program and to Mexican official standards. The later rules in this Library are the ones that restrict gillnets.