BajaNews
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Big Increase in Gray Whales at Mexican Biosphere Reserve (2011)
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=386777&Categor...
MEXICO CITY – The population of gray whales this year at a coastal lagoon within Mexico’s El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve has risen to 1,280, or more
than double the number in 2010, the Environment and Natural Resources Secretariat said.
Mexico also estimates that between 600 and 700 gray whales will have been born in that lagoon – located in the southern half of the Baja California
peninsula – by the time this year’s mating and calving season concludes at the end of April, when the marine mammals will begin migrating north to
their Arctic feeding grounds.
More than two months prior to season’s end, the population of gray whales in the biosphere reserve’s Laguna Ojo de Liebre has already reached the
average for the past 15 years, the secretariat said Friday in a statement.
This year’s gray whale population of 756 adults and 524 sub-adults in the lagoon indicates a high reproductive rate relative to the 2010 season, when
the tally was 390 adults and 183 sub-adults.
“These figures are proof of the federal government’s commitment to conserving the gray whale’s reproductive environment through a joint effort among
the different social sectors,” Environment Secretary Rafael Elvira Quesada said.
Meanwhile, this season’s population of that same species in the Laguna de San Ignacio, another coastal lagoon within El Vizcaino, totals 111 – 76
adults and 35 sub-adults – according to the latest calculations.
The “signs of recovery are very encouraging and renew (Mexico’s) commitment to offering the gray whale the ideal environment for reproduction,” Luis
Fueyo MacDonald, Mexico’s national commissioner for Natural Protected Areas, said.
Ojo de Liebre and San Ignacio, the two lagoons that make up the El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve’s whale sanctuary, are visited by hundreds of tourists
between the months of January and April, when the gray whales arrive in Mexican territorial waters after migrating up to 12,000 miles south along the
Canadian and U.S. west coasts.
Pregnant cows are the first to arrive, giving birth and feeding their calves in those two lagoons.
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b1
Junior Nomad
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Registered: 12-27-2007
Location: On the Reality side of the Paradise/Reality border
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Mood: Kicked it in neutral; hang'n cool.
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My wife and I visited Laguna Ojo de Liebre on February 9. The road in is in good shape with the exception of just a couple little washboard
stretches. The cost to park the rig was $5. usd and the boat ride for a full two hours amongst the whales was $40. usd each. Our boat went out at
about 1 p.m. We were the only two tourists in the boat with the guide and we were the only boat on the water. The guide was very friendly and
accomodating. No one else except the staff of 2 or 3 was at the site. There were 3 rigs camped in the campground north of the site. The water was
drum top smooth and the sun bright and warm. No wind. I have no way of knowing the numbers of whales, but the Laguna is absolutely stuffed with
whales. Of course, when one lives in the parched desert of southern Idaho, any number of whales looks like alot. b1
When the winds turn white in Idaho, it\'s my time to visit the banana trees of Baja.
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Mexitron
Ultra Nomad
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Location: Fort Worth, Texas
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Mood: Happy!
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Always glad the Gray Whales are doing well!
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shari
Select Nomad
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Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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B1...I am sooooo glad you took my advice and went there...sounds like a wonderful trip...we will be there this weekend...cant wait!!!
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ArvadaGeorge
Nomad
Posts: 358
Registered: 9-2-2003
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I think i talked to you about your trailer wheel in the parking lot. Is it working ok?
| Quote: | Originally posted by b1
My wife and I visited Laguna Ojo de Liebre on February 9. The road in is in good shape with the exception of just a couple little washboard
stretches. The cost to park the rig was $5. usd and the boat ride for a full two hours amongst the whales was $40. usd each. Our boat went out at
about 1 p.m. We were the only two tourists in the boat with the guide and we were the only boat on the water. The guide was very friendly and
accomodating. No one else except the staff of 2 or 3 was at the site. There were 3 rigs camped in the campground north of the site. The water was
drum top smooth and the sun bright and warm. No wind. I have no way of knowing the numbers of whales, but the Laguna is absolutely stuffed with
whales. Of course, when one lives in the parched desert of southern Idaho, any number of whales looks like alot. b1 |
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