Effective Management of the National Park Espíritu Santo, Through the Governance, Planning, and Design of an Integral Strategy for Los Islotes

The Parque Nacional Zona Marina del Archipielago de Espiritu Santo (PNZMAES; Espiritu Santo Archipelago Marine National Park) is unique for its scenic beauty and for housing the only California sea lion (CSL) breeding colony in the Gulf of California with a healthy growing population. The region is economically relevant to artisanal fisheries and tourism service providers, resulting in CSL entanglements and an increase in tourist visitation to the colony. Few years ago, the PNZMAES management plan implemented conservation strategies to protect the different areas essential to the distinct life cycle phases of species of conservation interest like the CSL. In this study, all demographic data and ecological and environmental variables available for this colony were compiled in order to assess its population’s growth trend and evaluate how diet and the entanglement rate have affected CSL abundance and the number of births. The colony continues to grow, and none of the variables analyzed had an effect on population parameters. The rookery is important for the conservation of the species in Mexico as it may become a core population from which historic and current breeding colonies in the Gulf of California at serious risk of disappearing may be recolonized.