Ceuta, a conservation treasure in Sinaloa, enjoys municipal and federal protection

The Ceuta beachlocated in the municipality of Elotain the center-south of Sinaloais famous for being a destination for the turtle nesting and black sea turtle, which is why in 2002 it was declared by the federal government as an Natural Protected Areain the category of sanctuary.

But last August, the protection of this treasure for the conservation was expanded, since the Elota City Council declared an area of 1,275 hectares as Municipal Natural Protected Area.

In this area there is a complex of lagoons, swamps and mangroves that are next to the federally protected beach, where each year up to 20,000 people arrive every year. migratory birds from North America, highlights Pronatura Noroeste.

"The approval of a project, which we have been working on for more than a year, which contemplates the protection of Ceuta Bay; we have a system of bays and lagoons, where many species of birds are housed, especially the most important, the snowy-headed plover, which nests there," said Pavel Cruz Salazar, Director of Tourism of the Municipality.

Among other species, it seeks to protect, care for and conserve the snowy-headed plover, which is a bird that comes to nest in the winter season on the Bay of Ceutahe said.

Juan Carlos Leyva MartínezRegional Coordinator of Pronatura Noroeste in Sinaloa, said that experts from this A.C. documented the situation of vulnerability of this area in order to promote the declaration of municipal protection for the bay, estuaries and marshes, in a work of more than a year with the Municipality, through the direction of Tourism.

"The importance of this declaration is for the wetlands and marshes that support and shelter the contingents of migratory birds that pass through Sinaloa during the winter season," he said.

"The municipality understood and promoted this to happen, deciding to contribute to the conservation of natural resources."

Cruz Salazar said that the project, in charge of Pronatura Noroeste The project includes active management of cleanup, surveillance, signage, an environmental education program, reforestation and the construction of species research camps.

"The core zone of this PNA will include the shorebird's nesting area, internationally recognized in many countries; we will protect that part and have a buffer zone and use zone," he explained.

The next step will be the development of the Management Plan on the site, as a challenge to harmonize the efforts of organizations, civil society, government and community in order to achieve a sustainable environmental project.

Ceuta has a rich variety of plants, consisting of mangrove and patches of xerophytic and halophytic scrub. The predominant species include cone mangrove (Conocarpus erecta), red mangrove (Rhizopha mangle) and white mangrove, as well as tule (Typha domnguensis), choya (Opuntia puberula) and guayacán (Gayacum palmeri).

In terms of fauna, the municipal declaration of NPA will allow to strengthen the monitoring of the bird populations, being Ceuta one of the 17 wetlands in which Pronatura Noroeste carries out the monitoring of migratory birds. Among them we can mention the snowy plover (Charadrius nivosus) and least tern (Sternula antillarum). There are also reptiles, mammals such as the cochi jabalí (Pecari tajacu) and the coyote (Canis latrans) and reptiles such as the black iguana (Ctenosaura pectinata), and the rattlesnake viper (Crotalus basiliscus).

Source: Pronatura Noroeste, Elota City Hall