---
title: "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."
canonical: https://vaquita.mx/library/dof-1993-biosphere-reserve
updated: 2026-10-16T18:27:32Z
source: Generated from vaquita.mx
---

# 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.

- Type: Law or regulation
- Authors: Presidencia de la República
- Published: 10 June 1993
- Published by: Diario Oficial de la Federación
- Language: Spanish
- Licence: Unknown
- Source: [https://dof.gob.mx/nota\_detalle.php?codigo=4744610&fecha=10/06/1993](https://dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=4744610&fecha=10/06/1993)
- Page: https://vaquita.mx/library/dof-1993-biosphere-reserve
- Topics: Policy & enforcement, Habitat & ecosystem, Conservation efforts

## 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

- 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.
- 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.
- The same list covers bottlenose and common dolphins, six whale species and the California sea lion, followed by several land and freshwater species.
- Art. 2 gives the reserve's conservation, administration and enforcement to the Secretaría de Desarrollo Social, and Art. 5 orders a management program.
- 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.