World Wildlife Fund

We are working to strike a balance between meeting the needs of local communities and maintaining a healthy ecosystem. We are focused on three areas that present the best opportunities for altering the global markets that challenge the future of this unique place.

WWF is working to save vaquitas, a mammal so rare that photographs of live animals are limited to glimpses of their dorsal fins.
© WWF/Gustavo YBARRA

Shrimp Initiative
The Shrimp Initiative is a multi-institutional effort to transform the Gulf’s shrimp trawl fishery by using science and stakeholder engagement to understand the dynamics of the natural system in which the fishery operates, with the aim of developing sustainable fishing methods based on ecosystem-based management scenarios; facilitating shrimp industry transition to better practices; and creating new market opportunities for selling responsibly harvested Gulf’s shrimp.

The overall goal of the initiative is to decrease the ecological impact of shrimp trawl fishery and optimize its economic value, through:
1) Policy development: Development of science-based options for ecosystem-focused, sustainable shrimp fishery management and the development and implementation of specific policy recommendations.

2) Alternative technologies: Test a prototype trawling system for industrial trawlers that can reduce the bycatch volume in 50 percent and save up to 30 percent of the consumption of diesel during fishing operations, promoting its adoption by regional fishers and fleet owners.

3) Green markets: Work with producers and suppliers on continuous improvement in sustainability standards, the creation of a market niche and development of a verification system for interested buyers.

Incentives-based fisheries management
Catch share mechanisms and similar incentive-based fisheries management tools offer troubled fisheries around the world alternatives for healthier and more profitable management. Well-conceived catch share programs can reduce stresses on overfished stocks, dramatically cut back on bycatch, limit habitat destruction, and markedly improve fishers’ revenues.

This project focuses on pilot testing incentives-based management scenarios designed to both be more ecologically sustainable and also to optimize fisheries productivity, working towards the adoption of this innovative approach to fisheries management in major fisheries. To succeed, the strategy will require building stakeholder support and capacity to implement incentives-based fisheries management, the development of regulations that support the development of property rights for fisheries, identification of sustainable technologies, and the development of an investment strategy.

Develop a functional network of conservation and management areas
WWF and The Nature Conservancy are implementing a suite of conservation and management tools that ensures a comprehensive representation of the region’s biodiversity, provides adequate connectivity for critical ecological processes, improves the health of the conservation targets and abates the region’s principal threats. This strategy will require five major steps: 

1) design of a functional network that incorporates ecological and social connectivity, environmental services, and information about global climate change

2) identification of the most appropriate conservation and management tools for each site in the network, based on biological, economic, social and political criteria

3) achieve the endorsement of environmental and fisheries authorities and civil society for the network

4) ensure efficient management, enforcement and long-term sustainability of the network of sites

5) monitor the effectiveness of the network.

Strategies for sustainable tourism and coastal development
Federal institutions responsible of planning, promoting and developing tourism-related infrastructure are increasingly showing a commitment for sustainable practices within the industry. However, with some exemptions, the trend in the Gulf of California is leading towards traditional mass tourism and unplanned second home real estate development. WWF focus in the following strategies:

1) Strengthen the capacity of municipalities to develop professional Ecological Land Ordinances (POETs) and Urban Development Plans

2) Ensure a sustainable tourism law and national tourism plan

3) Build a joint Gulf of California Model with big investors

Priority Endangered or Threatened Marine Species
In 2007, the WWF-Telcel Alliance began a program for the conservation of endangered or threatened marine species and their habitats in the Sea of Cortez and the Baja California Peninsula, which includes five sea turtle species (loggerhead, olive ridley, leatherback, hawksbill and black), five species of large whales (blue, gray, finback, humpback and sperm whale) and the orca, the white shark, other pelagic sharks and “billfish” (swordfish, sailfish, marlin and mahi-mahi).

With the participation of leading Mexican scientists and in close coordination with federal and state authorities and fishermen, we will use state-of-the-art technologies, including radio telemetry, underwater acoustics, photo-identification and genetics to advance the knowledge of these species. Responsible fishing practices will be fostered so that they benefit local fishermen and their families, which depend on these resources and play a key role in the sustainable exploitation of marine biodiversity.