The Yucatan Peninsula, jutting out into the Caribbean Sea from the Mexico mainland and paralleling the Mesoamerican Reef is world famous as a vacation destination, with its Mayan Riviera hotspots such as Cancun and Playa del Carmen.

The Nature Conservancy is working to protect nature’s abundance here, wetlands that are important nesting and breeding grounds, largely uncharted underground river systems, and critical coastal systems.

Succumbing to pressures from tourism

This mecca for tourists is growing at exponential rates. In the 1960s Playa del Carmen was a sleepy fishing village and today it is a bustling hubbub of development. Growing numbers of hotels and vacation homes are causing soil erosion and destroying important wildlife nesting and foraging habitats. Manatees, wild boars and several plant species have already disappeared from the Yucatan’s north coast.

The growing number of residents in the area has increased the consumption of water taking it close to the brink of disaster. Mexico’s Riviera Maya is facing alarming growth - in the past 30 years the population has increased by 1,000 per cent.  Overfishing, poor agricultural practices, building of roads and harvesting salt continue to threaten the reefs and coastal habitats.

Mixing waters sustain life

Due to the proximity of freshwater systems to the sea, the area is abundant with a number of salt and freshwater pools that create critical nesting and breeding grounds for birds and marine life. Mangrove swamps act as a link between the salt and freshwater systems - balancing the nutrients and supplying food for shrimp, crabs and many species of fish. Water comes to these systems from an immense network of underground limestone pools known as cenotes.

The Yucatan’s mangrove swamps, lagoons and coastal dunes provide homes for a wide array of wildlife, from jaguars to sea turtles. It is an important migratory route as well and three billion birds fly through its passages including wood thrushes and black-throated green warblers. Flamingos, roseate spoonbills, herons and 330 other bird species live here year round.

At night four species of sea turtles - green, loggerhead, hawksbill and leatherback sea turtles - nest on the Yucatan’s beaches. At night, the glistening eyes of crocodiles gleam in the wetlands. While walking through its inland forests one can sometimes spy tracks from jaguar, puma, ocelot, margay, jaguarundi or tapir while, spider and howler monkeys cavort in the overhead trees.
 Overfishing, poor agricultural practices, building of roads and harvesting salt all continue to threaten the reefs and coastal habitats.  

Putting fences and protecting habitats

The Conservancy is working to safeguard the area from increasing threats by working with local partners Amigos de Sian Ka’an (ASK) and Pronatura Peninsula Yucatan.

In 2002, the Conservancy and Amigos de Sian Ka’an acquired Pez Maya, a key tract of land that strategically protects the only access to the northern coastal lagoons and wetland systems of the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve. The Conservancy created a five-year conservation plan to manage the reserve.

The Conservancy is initiating a land protection program in parts of this region that are home to a vast array of waterfowl, working with partner Pronatura Peninsula Yucatán. The two also plan to address critical development threats to the turtle nesting beaches of Isla Holbox.

Monitoring fish spawning sites in Sian Ka'an and Banco Chinchorro

The Conservancy is a leader in spawning aggregation conservation along the Mesoamerican Reef. We help do this in Mexico by training fishers and marine practitioners to identify and validate SPAGs. Identfying and validating these sites is difficult as the site can be just 100 meters away from the divers and they could miss it. The Conservancy is working to implement other monitoring devices as well.

During the past year the Conservancy worked with ASK and Mexico’s National Park Agency, CONANP and local fishers to validate sites in Sian Ka’an and Banco Chincorro. A total of seven sites were validated in Banco Chinchorro.

The Nassau grouper is critically endangered due to heavy fishing pressures throughout the region. Nassau grouper is a reef fish species and a preferred food for coastal communities in the Caribbean and along the Mesoamerican Reef. Despite protection efforts at national levels very little is known about the recovery of the species. Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (UADY) conducted a study using existing data, literature and expertise at known spawning aggregation sites to help the Conservancy and partners better conserve this vital species.  

Underground Caverns

The Yucatan Peninsula has a unique karst system where tropical forests in the central region collect water that flows through a complex underground system that connects the terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystems. This intricate system plays a crucial role not only transporting freshwater and nutrients that are vital for the health of the reef, but also contaminants. 

Currently only 32 per cent of the residual waters are being treated along the coast of Quintana Roo. The Conservancy is supporting partners study the conditions and connectivity between subterranean freshwater systems, cenotes, coastal wetlands and coral reefs.  We also support the exploration and mapping of the underground river system that is being carried out by Centro Investigador del Acuifero de Quintana Roo (CINDAQ).  A total of 169 kilometers have been explored and mapped to date.  The results of these studies are being disseminated to authorities and key decision-makers, so that they are able to make informed decisions.
 

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Fisherman cast their lines at sunrise on still waters in the Yucatan coast. © D. Yourkman; Fishermen head out to sea off the Yucatan Peninsula  © Connie Gelb.