A fundamental component of conservation efforts in Natural Protected Areas (NPAs) with marine ecosystems is surveillance. It is closely related to governance strategies within priority sites, as it ensures compliance with environmental regulations among the users of these areas. In this area, we have always participated in collaboration with federal authorities and the community, by implementing surveillance technology tools that strengthen the detection and response capabilities of the authorities.
Since 2018, with the support of Global Conservation, the Marine Monitor (M2) is operational in the Cabo Pulmo National Park, Baja California Sur. This system allows us to locate and continuously track all vessels within its range of vision, as well as analyze their route, trajectory and speed in order to detect suspicious behavior in areas or times that are not permitted. This type of suspicious behavior triggers alerts and automatically notifies the authorities so that they can be verified and dealt with effectively.
In 2022 alone, the M2 system in Cabo Pulmo National Park recorded 18,522 tracks, with 227 of them showing suspicious behavior that generated the corresponding alerts.
This same technology can be found at the Loreto lighthouse in Baja California Sur. From a higher position, the M2 has a privileged view of the Loreto Bay National Park, which improves the surveillance capacity of the protected area. The long-range camera included in the system allows visual tours within a 70,000 hectare marine area with an outstanding definition.
In Loreto, the Marine Monitor system recorded a total of 27,708 runs in 2022 and 227 alerts were issued to federal authorities due to suspicious behavior.
Our latest acquisition, supported by Global Conservation, is the Marine Monitor Movil (M3), which will strengthen the surveillance coverage in the Loreto Bay National Park. Developed by the U.S. organization Protected Seas, the M3 system has a high level of autonomy, given the fact that it is installed on a trailer containing all the necessary attachments and components so that it can operate far away from any urban infrastructure, which makes it very useful for surveillance work.
From the use of these technologies, we expect to significantly enhance surveillance capacity in Loreto Bay National Park, providing federal authorities with intelligence to enable accurate and efficient law enforcement and compliance actions. This, in turn, will serve as a test model for future surveillance incursions at other conservation sites in northwestern Mexico.
Both Loreto and Cabo Pulmo, two sites of importance for their marine biodiversity, are part of our map of priority conservation sites. Here we work intensively to protect a diversity of species such as the Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), the Spinner Dolphin (Stenella longirostris), the Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), the Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus), the Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus), and the Bryde’s Whale (Balaenoptera edeni), among others.
Support us to expand our surveillance coverage in other priority sites in northwestern Mexico.
