About 700 kilometers west of Manzanillo, Colima, and 400 kilometers south of Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, is the Revillagigedo Archipelago Biosphere Reserve. Four islands of volcanic origin make up this archipelago: Socorro Island, which is the largest with an area of 132 square kilometers, Clarion Island, San Benedicto Island (formerly called Anublada Island) and the smallest of the four, Roca Partida Island, also considered an islet. In addition, the archipelago has a large surrounding marine area.
This natural site has a unique marine fauna, due in large part to its geological characteristics and geographic location, where organisms from the Indo-Pacific, the Gulf of California and the Mexican Pacific converge.
For a long time, the Revillagigedo Archipelago remained a natural site with important conservation gaps and omissions. Several factors threaten this complex and extraordinary ecosystem, not only in terms of the ocean, but also on its coasts and islands. Among them are global warming, pollution of seas and oceans, and overexploitation of natural resources.
The archipelago’s conservation history took a remarkable step in 1994 when the islands were declared a Natural Protected Area. UNESCO also considers it a Natural World Heritage Site and it appears on the Ramsar Site list, which catalogs wetlands and marine ecosystems of strategic importance for the planet. As of 2008, the Revillagigedo Archipelago Biosphere Reserve was integrated. Finally, in 2017 it was declared a national park by the Mexican federal government, thus adding an extensive marine protected area around the islands. This allows us to conserve diverse migratory species and their habitats, as well as connections between important marine conservation areas in the Pacific.
Among the animal species in the area are the Whitetip Shark (Carcharhinus albimarginatus), which is on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) because of incidental fishing. Likewise, the Pilot Shark (Carcharhinus falciformis) is highly desired by fishermen and therefore considered a vulnerable species.
Some birds frequently seen on the islands are the Socorro Parakeet (Aratinga holochlora brevipes) and the Mockingbird (Mimodes graysoni). On the other hand, there are endemic species on the islands, which is typical of isolated ecosystems. Examples of this are reptiles such as the Blue Lizard (Urosaurus auruculatus), endemic to Socorro Island, and the Clarion Island Chirping Snake (Masticophis anthonyi), which can only be found on this island.
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