San Ignacio Lagoon
| Designations | |
|---|---|
| Official name | Laguna San Ignacio |
| Designated | 2 February 2004 |
| Reference no. | 1341[1] |
San Ignacio Lagoon (Laguna San Ignacio) is a lagoon located in Mulegé Municipality of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur, 59 kilometers (37 mi) from San Ignacio, Mexico, and Highway 1. It is one of the winter sanctuaries of the eastern Pacific gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus).
History
After the native population of Baja California had vanished due to disease in the 18th century,
Facts about San Ignacio Lagoon
With a local community of fewer than 100 inhabitants, residents depend upon fishing and money provided from whale watching as their primary means of support. The lagoon stretches sixteen miles into the desert and has a maximum width of five miles. The lagoon is divided into three sections. The upper lagoon is the shallowest and is the birthing area where pregnant female whales bear their young. The middle lagoon is the corridor where mothers travel with their newborn calves to the lower lagoon. The lower lagoon is where most of the cetaceans reside and where the majority of the social behavior occurs. Here, males and females congregate looking for mates and newborn calves prepare themselves for the long journey north to their summer feeding grounds in the Arctic.
San Ignacio Lagoon's significance to the world community
In 1988,
References
- ^ "Laguna San Ignacio". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- ^ Massey, William C. (1949). "Tribes and Languages of Baja California". Southwestern Journal of Anthropology. 5 (3): 272.
- ^ Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
26°54′N 113°13′W / 26.900°N 113.217°W
