Guadalupe island, 241 kilometers off the west coast of Baja California, is famous for its great white sharks. But last week the Mexican government banned diving there.
Guadalupe has been a marine reserve since 2005. In May 2022 Mexico closed the reserve to divers until December of that year. The new Guadalupe Island Biosphere Reserve Management Program, published 9 January 2023, has extended that ban indefinitely. The plan says that this is because bad practices have been observed between 2016 and 2021. This hits the responsible dive boats along with the irresponsible.
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Image credits:
- white shark: Andrea Izzotti/Shutterstock