Parque Nacional Islas Marietas (9372075457)

The Marieta Islands ( es, Islas Marietas) are a group of small uninhabited islands a few miles off the coast of the state of

Nayarit Nayarit (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Nayarit), is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 20 municipalities and its ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, located in federal waters approximately southwest of the peninsula known as Punta de Mita, in the municipality of

Bahía de Banderas Bahía de Banderas (, Spanish for ''Bay of Flags'') is a bay on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, within the Mexican states of Jalisco and Nayarit. It is also the name of an administrative municipality, located on the bay in Nayarit state. The port ...

. The islands are a popular tourist destination because of the abundant marine life populations due to the islands being protected from fishing and hunting by the Mexican government. The ocean water depth around the islands is between 70 and 110 feet.

Geography

The Marietas Islands were originally formed many thousands of years ago by volcanic activity, and are completely uninhabited. The islands are about an hour-long boat ride west-northwest from the coast of

Puerto Vallarta Puerto Vallarta ( or simply Vallarta) is a Mexican beach resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Puerto Vallarta is the second largest urban agglomeration in the state after the Guadala ...

or a 15-minute boat ride from the resort area of

Punta Mita Punta Mita is a private peninsula that is home to the Four Seasons Punta Mita, St. Regis Punta Mita, and 16 sub-communities. Punta Mita is located on the north end of Banderas Bay in the Mexican state of Nayarit, about north of Puerto Vall ...

and are visited daily by hundreds of tourists. However, visitors cannot legally set foot on the islands. In the early 1900s, the Mexican government began conducting military testing on the islands since they were uninhabited. Many bombings and large explosions took place on the islands causing caves and rock formations to be created. After a massive international outcry, started by scientist

Jacques Cousteau Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (, also , ; 11 June 191025 June 1997) was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented the first successful Aqua-Lung, open-circuit SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus). T ...

in the late 1960s, the government eventually decided to declare the islands a national park and therefore protected against any fishing, hunting or human activity. Situated in a sort of open sun-drenched crater, the beach pictured above is affectionately nicknamed the "hidden beach" or "beach of love" (), and is accessible only when the tide is low. This topographical anomaly was created by bombs in the 1900s and the erosion afterwards.

Flora and fauna

Parque Nacional Islas Marietas (9375309250)

The islands are home to 44 species of plants and wildlife. This has led to the inclusion of the national park as a

Ramsar site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve. Many species of seabirds use the location as feeding and breeding grounds, these include blue-footed boobies as well as the

red-billed tropicbird The red-billed tropicbird (''Phaethon aethereus'') is a tropicbird, one of three closely related species of seabird of tropical oceans. Superficially resembling a tern in appearance, it has mostly white plumage with some black markings on the wi ...

s. It also has many different varieties of coral, which, in turn, is home to a large variety of reef fish species. The island ecosystem is also home to dolphins,

manta ray Manta rays are large rays belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' (formerly its own genus ''Manta''). The larger species, '' M. birostris'', reaches in width, while the smaller, '' M. alfredi'', reaches . Both have triangular Pectoral fin#AnchPect ...

s and a number of tropical fish. Eels and many species of sea turtles are also found in the reefs and the many caves that dot the site. During the winter months humpback whales arrive at the islands and can be observed all through winter.

Tourism

Protection by the government has created an environment conducive to the development of the marine ecosystem, and is a popular location for

snorkeling Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped breathing tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a ...

and

scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...

. Not even during

whale watching Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and dolphins ( cetaceans) in their natural habitat. Whale watching is mostly a recreational activity (cf. birdwatching), but it can also serve scientific and/or educational purposes.Hoyt, E. 2 ...

tours, people often report seeing

sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead, ...

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

, wild

dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...

humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hump ...

s and thousands of species of tropical fish around the islands. The islands are also home to a few thousand birds, with species such as the

blue-footed booby The blue-footed booby (''Sula nebouxii'') is a marine bird native to subtropical and tropical regions of the eastern Pacific Ocean. It is one of six species of the genus '' Sula'' – known as boobies. It is easily recognizable by its distinct ...

. Currently, the Mexican government allows only a few companies to go to the islands and allows the landing of passengers onto one secluded beach with the necessary permit from

SEMARNAT The Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (in Spanish: ''Secretaría del Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, SEMARNAT'') is Mexico's environment ministry. Its head, the Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources, is a member ...

. From Punta de Mita, small boats do tours through the islands to see the wildlife of this region. From December to March gray and humpback whales can be observed that come from Alaska to give birth off the coast of Nayarit. It has been estimated in studies carried out at the

University of Guadalajara The University of Guadalajara ( es, Universidad de Guadalajara) is a public higher education institution in the Mexican city of Guadalajara. The university has several high schools as well as graduate and undergraduate campuses, which are distr ...

that the so-called "hidden beach" or the "love beach" can accommodate up to 116 visitors a day without degrading. The carrying capacity of the entire park is 625 visitors a day. (These studies used the antiquated system of tourism carrying capacity to estimate visitors). However the actual number of visitors is typically three or four times this limit with more than 2500 visitors landing on it each day during 2016. During the Easter holidays more than 250 boats landed on the island per day, some of them carrying as many as 400 tourists. This has been due to recent interest in the island. The number of tourists in 2012 was only 27,500, but this skyrocketed to 127,372 in 2015.

Closure to general public

Parque Nacional Islas Marietas (9372104835)

In May 2016, the

National Commission of Protected Natural Areas National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

, the national environmental authority in Mexico announced that the islands and their beaches shall be closed to the general public from May 9. There have been several reasons presented for this closure, although all of them stem from the increased number of tourists visiting the site. One of the main reasons of the closure is that the coral in the area is being destroyed. The cause of coral destruction is thought to be a combination of global warming, presence of boat oil in the water due to excessive tour trips and physical destruction due to dropping of anchors up to 250 times a day. The structure of the islands and the famous beach is composed of two types of volcanic rocks. The interior is made up of "explosive rocks" which erode quickly and the exterior "shell" is made up of a more resilient form of rock which can withstand erosion to a greater degree. This does not mean that the island is not susceptible to erosion. According to various studies carried out in 2014 it has been estimated that the island only has a few thousand more years before it will erode away. However, the rate of erosion is being accelerated by human impact and according to officials, "Excessive tourism could lead to a more rapid destruction of this sanctuary." Another problem is the increase in solid waste pollution and hydrocarbon pollution. These pose a threat not only to the coral but to larger animals as well. even the humpback whales have felt the negative impact of hydrocarbon pollution. When the closure was announced, rumors began to circulate on various social media networks that the islands and the beaches had been sold to foreign corporations. Roberto Sandoval, the governor of Nayarit, dismissed these rumors as fabrications and stated that the islands were part of the Mexican national heritage and shall therefore remain an icon of Riviera Nayarit forever.

Conservation efforts

The Mexican authorities have outlined several plans to undo the damage done to the beaches and the islands. These will focus not only repairing the damage already caused by human hands, but will also focus on mitigating any further human interference in the ecosystem. The first part of the plan is to "replant" the coral in order to compensate for the coral that has been destroyed. This is done by attaching new coral to the already existing coral and letting it grow for 3 to 4 months. Another major effort focuses on limiting the damaging human impact on the sanctuary when the islands reopen for the general public and tourists. According to National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) after the islands have been reopened for tourism tourist overload may be mitigated by placing a special floating dock in the bay area which will limit the ships that arrive. another measure under consideration is to place buoys around the fragile ecosystem in order to control the number of visitors that are arriving. File:Parque Nacional Islas Marietas (9374828824).jpg, File:Parque Nacional Islas Marietas (9372309459).jpg, File:Parque Nacional Islas Marietas (9372569469).jpg, File:Parque Nacional Islas Marietas (9374897504).jpg, File:Parque Nacional Islas Marietas (9374753504).jpg, File:Parque Nacional Islas Marietas (9375107626).jpg,

References

External links

* {{authority control Islands of Nayarit National parks of Mexico Protected areas of Nayarit Ramsar sites in Mexico Uninhabited islands of Mexico Important Bird Areas of Mexico