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The reef is formed by multi-fingers of hard coral reef and lies
in 18 meters of water. The reef is the only hard coral reef in the
Sea of Cortez and one of only three living reefs in North America.
A Mexican fishing vessel (the Colima), sunk during a storm in 1939,
lies in 15 meters of water approximately 2.4 kilometers north of
Punta Cabo Pulmo, and offers the added bonus of a wreck dive for
scuba enthusiasts to an already spectacular marine park. Underwater
visibility ranges from 18-30 meters (60-100 feet) and water temperatures
range from 18-27 degrees C (65-80 degrees F).
The residents of the area, led by Jose Luis "Pepe" Murrieta of
Pepe's Dive Center and employees of the Hotel Bahia Los Frailes, have formed the Patronato Alliance to assist
in local administration of the park.
The University of La Paz has been tasked by Patronato with the
development of an Integrated Area Management Plan (IAMP) for the
park. The Mexican government provides a resident park manager. Local
boat captains provide 6-passenger outboard-powered pangas to shuttle
scuba divers to the pristine dive sites.
Protection of this fragile marine environment, while improving
the economic viability of Cabo Pulmo, presents a monumental challenge
to Patronato. Environmental challenges being addressed by Patronato
include mitigating petrochemical pollution from two-stroke outboard
motors, monitoring coral reef bleaching, diminishing marine biodiversity,
reducing impacts from land-generated waste and toxins, improvements
to the land-side infrastructure, eliminating anchor damage to the
coral, the illegal removal of marine souvenirs, and protection of
the marine reserve from commercial fishing.
The needs of Patronato include clean burning four-stroke outboard
motors, an inflatable-type boat for the park manager, mooring pins
to eliminate anchor damage to coral, an integrated area management
plan (IAMP), contributions to support the needs of the park manager
and other physical improvements, and volunteer teams to perform
underwater surveys.
A long-term monitoring plan for the coral reef is necessary as
bleaching of the hard coral is evident. Surveys of the reef areas
and biodiversity species population inventories should be part of
the IAMP. Basic improvements to the park landside infrastructure
are also required to mitigate the impacts to the environment caused
by the anticipated increase in visitor traffic.
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