The most recent monitoring of fish and invertebrates coexisting in the Espíritu Santo Archipelago Marine Zone National Parkin Baja California SurThe company's efforts to conserve marine natural resources are yielding results.
The study was carried out by researchers from the Niparajá Natural History Society, A.C.with the support of operational technicians from the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas)university students and community divers.
The antecedent
In 2007, the waters surrounding the archipelago of Espiritu Santo were decreed as protected natural areaThe purpose of this project is to create the Espíritu Santo Archipelago Marine Zone National Park (PNZMAES) in order to take better advantage of the benefits it provides and at the same time conserve and preserve the ecosystems and species found in this area of the Gulf of California.
The decree divided the protected natural area into a core zone, which represents 1.4 percent of the park's surface area, for species refuge, feeding and resting, and a buffer zone, which covers 98.6 percent of the park, to guide activities towards sustainable development for species conservation.
In 2005, before it was declared a national park, biological monitoring began in this zone to establish a baseline for subsequent monitoring.
Until the publication of the latest study, there have been 13 years of monitoring that serve to evaluate how the park is doing, if the actions are working or if it is necessary to modify some lines, according to the study itself.
In order to evaluate whether the establishment of the National Park is achieving its objectives, an analysis of the biophysical indicators of fish and invertebrate populations 10 years after the decree was issued was carried out, considering four objectives:
- Restore or maintain fish and invertebrate populations.
- Maintain or increase the biomass of key species.
- Protect areas essential for the different phases of the life cycle of the species.
- Promote the use of sunken ships as alternative dive sites and species aggregation areas.
The results
In general, fish richness and diversity have remained stable with a slight positive trend, although not significant, however, with a clear decrease in invertebrates, a result that is expected since this behavior has occurred in different marine protected areas around the world, according to the document.
"The different ecosystems in the PNZMAES have maintained over the years a diversity with values as high as those of a poorly diverse reef in Indonesia, as well as an increase in the biomass of commercially important fish species of up to 169 percent in buffer zones, resulting in ecological, social and economic benefits," he says.
The Niparajá study highlights that the core zones are sites that to date meet the objectives set for their decree, despite being only a small portion of the total area.
"These objectives are the result of the efforts of all the stakeholders present in the National Park: fishermen, tourism service providers, civil society organizations, the federal government, and national and international tourists," he emphasizes.
After analyzing the results and taking into account what was intended to be achieved when the park was established, in general, it is fulfilling its objectives by conserving and protecting the diverse marine resources, maintaining the populations and protecting the essential areas for the different phases of the life cycle, he believes.
It concludes that the Parque Nacional Zona Marina del Archipiélago de Espíritu Santo has proven to be an effective environmental policy instrument for the conservation of nature worldwide, being the first Mexican Natural Protected Area to be incorporated into the Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).