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ISRA FACTSHEETS

CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICAN PACIFIC REGION

ISRA FACTSHEETS

CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICAN PACIFIC REGION

Migration Corridor Loreto-Cabo Pulmo ISRA

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Migration Corridor Loreto-Cabo Pulmo ISRA

Migration Corridor Loreto-Cabo Pulmo

Summary

The Migration Corridor Loreto-Cabo Pulmo extends 268 km along the south-eastern coast of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. This area includes four protected areas, four Key Biodiversity Areas, and two Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar site). The area is characterised by diverse habitats including seamounts, mangroves, rocky shores, boulders, black corals, algal communities, coral reefs, and rocky reefs. Several islands occur in the area including Espíritu Santo, Cerralvo, San José, San Diego, and Santa Cruz Islands. This area has defined seasonal productivity, which is higher during the boreal spring and summer due to upwellings, wind-driven currents, tidal mixing, and thermohaline circulation. Within this area there are: threatened species (e.g., Scalloped Hammerhead Sphyrna lewini) and areas important for movement (e.g., Blacktip Shark Carcharhinus limbatus).

Migration Corridor Loreto - Cabo Pulmo

Migration Corridor Loreto-Cabo Pulmo

DESCRIPTION OF HABITAT

The Migration Corridor Loreto – Cabo Pulmo extends 268 km along the south-eastern coast of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico. Situated within the Gulf of California Large Marine Ecosystem, the area is characterised by a diversity of habitats including seamounts, mangroves, rocky shores, boulders, black corals, algal communities, and coral and rocky reefs, among others (Thomson et al. 2000; Brusca et al. 2005). During the boreal spring and summer (April to November), weak south-easterly winds cause upwellings along the east and west coasts of the Baja California peninsula, which increases productivity. This area has sea surface temperatures ranging between 20–30°C.

The area includes four protected areas: National Park Bahía de Loreto, Protection Area of Flora and Fauna Islas del Golfo de California, Marine Zone from National Park Espíritu Santo Archipelago, and National Park Cabo Pulmo (CONANP 2000, 2006, 2014; DOF 2019). In addition, it includes four Key Biodiversity Areas (Isla Cerralvo, Isla Espíritu Santo, Archipiélago San José, and Archipiélago Loreto [KBA 2022a, 2022b, 2022c, 2022d]) and two Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar sites: Parque Nacional Bahía de Loreto and Parque Nacional Cabo Pulmo [Ramsar 2022a, 2022b]).

This Important Shark and Ray Area is delineated from inshore and surface waters (0 m) to a depth of 1,928 m based on the maximum global depth range of the Qualifying Species.

CRITERION A

VULNERABILITY

Four Qualifying Species considered threatened with extinction according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM regularly occur in the area. These are the Critically Endangered Scalloped Hammerhead (Rigby et al. 2019), Endangered Whale Shark (Pierce & Norman 2016), and Vulnerable Blacktip Shark (Rigby et al. 2021a) and Bull Shark (Rigby et al. 2021b).

CRITERION C

SUB-CRITERION C4 – MOVEMENT

The Migration Corridor Loreto – Cabo Pulmo is an important area for the movement of four shark species.

Aggregations of >1,000 Blacktip Shark individuals have been observed in Cabo Pulmo (Ayres et al. 2021). From nine individuals satellite-tagged in Cabo Pulmo, four used this corridor as part of their movement to Loreto (365 km from tagging site), and to areas in the eastern coast of the Gulf of California (up to 900 km from the tagging site) (Ketchum et al. 2020; Ayres 2022). In addition, movements of eight individuals (from 26 acoustically tagged) between Cabo Pulmo and Cerralvo Island (88 km northwards), Las Animas (217 km northwards), and La Reina (125 km northwards) have been reported (Ayres 2022; Ketchum et al. 2023).

Based on acoustic telemetry, movements of Bull Sharks within the corridor have been reported. Sharks moved from Cabo Pulmo to Punta Pescadero (49 km north), Isla Ballena (161 km north), and Punta Lobos (147 km north) (Ketchum et al. 2020; James Ketchum, unpubl. data 2022).

Juvenile Whale Sharks move between aggregation sites in Bahia de Los Angeles and Bahia de La Paz. Feeding activity occurs here, with Bahia de Los Angeles serving as a yearly aggregation site from May to November, and Bahia de La Paz between October–March (up to 129 individuals every year) (Ramírez-Macias et al. 2012; Ketchum et al. 2013; Ramírez-Macías & Saad 2016; Whitehead et al. 2019a, 2019b). Movements between both sites has been reported for many years through satellite and acoustic tagging, and photo-identification: these migrations have been recorded to take less than a one year (Mayorga-Martínez 2012; Nates-López 2015; Ramirez-Macias et al. 2012, 2017). In addition, adults move to oceanic waters in southern parts of the area and in the Pacific coast of the Baja California peninsula (Eckert and Stewart 2001; Ramirez-Macias et al. 2017).

Based on acoustic, conventional and satellite transmitters, movements of Scalloped Hammerhead along the corridor have also been reported. Of the 25 acoustically tagged individuals, one moved from El Bajo Espíritu Santo Seamount (EBES) to Las Animas and the rest remained near the seamount (Aldana-Moreno 2020, Ketchum et al. 2023). One shark tagged with a conventional tag travelled south to La Ribera, 20 km north of Cabo Pulmo (Aldana-Moreno 2020; Ketchum et al. 2023). From three individuals satellite-tagged at EBES, two moved northwards, to Loreto National Park and then returned down to Bay of La Paz (Aldana-Moreno 2020; Ketchum et al. 2023), and one moved north to Loreto National Park and then south to Cabo San Lucas (S. Jorgensen, unpubl. data 2022). In addition, a round trip of up to 3,350 km between La Paz Bay and the central Gulf of California has been recorded for a juvenile satellite tagged Scalloped Hammerhead (Hoyos-Padilla et al. 2014). The movements of this sharks showed habitat changes related to ontogeny, from coastal areas inhabited by juveniles to offshore areas used by sub-adults (Ketchum et al. 2020).

Migration Corridor Loreto - Cabo Pulmo

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