Mexico
Center for Marine Mammal Studies
La Paz, Baja California Sur, 1990-1995
Center for Wetland/Coastal Studies
Puerto San Carlos, Baja California Sur, 1997-present

The first SFS program in Mexico took place in the summer of 1981 on the Yucatan Peninsula where students focused on the ecology of tropical and temperate plant communities. It would be seven years before SFS returned to Mexico again, this time to an island in Lake Catemaco in Veracruz State to study a small breeding colony of endangered Stumptail Macaques which had been relocated from Asia.

With interest high in SFS courses focusing on Humpback and Killer Whales, Harbor Seals, Bottlenose and Spinner Dolphins at study sites as diverse as Alaska, Hawaii, North Carolina, Maine and British Columbia, it was clear that dedicating a center to the study of marine mammals made a lot of sense. With start-up funding from the Island Foundation and in cooperation with the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, the SFS Center for Marine Mammal Studies opened in La Paz in 1990 as the world's first year-round field program offering undergraduate training in marine mammal conservation. Its initial goals were to: 1) collect baseline data on diversity, distribution and abundance of marine mammal species in the Bay of La Paz; 2) to assess the effects of human disturbance—boat traffic, fishing activity, development and pollution—on local marine mammal populations; and 3) to collect baseline ecological data in the Bay of La Paz. 

SFS programming in Mexico was temporarily interrupted for several years with the closure of the Center for Marine Mammal Studies on the Sea of Cortez side of the Baja peninsula and the subsequent opening in Spring 1997 of a new SFS center on Magdalena Bay on the Pacific side of the peninsula. The construction of the new Center for Wetland Studies was partially funded by a debt swap with the government of Mexico, the first of its kind in support of an environmental research and educational facility. 

Within a year it was determined that although the study of wetlands, specifically mangrove environments, was indeed a component of the center's research, it was not the main focus. Thus was born the Center for Coastal Studies whose current research goals—remarkably convergent with the goals of the center in La Paz—are to: 1) Conduct habitat and species conservation research that addresses sea turtle population status, trends and threats, and the impacts of whale watching tourism on grey whales; 2) Conduct pollution research that addresses the effects of fish cannery effluent on water quality in the Bay; 3) Research the biological and fisheries management aspects of selected commercial species (e.g. shrimp, blue crab, lobster, and abalone) as well as the potential of aquaculture as an economic alternative for the local community; and 4) Research urbanization and development in Puerto San Carlos to address its infrastructure and service needs and maximize the potential for ecotourism and environmental education programs.