 |  November 13, 2008
Gustavo Hinojosa, Director of the SFS Center for Coastal Studies, located in Puerto San Carlos in Baja California Sur, Mexico, describes his SFS experience as “one of the best decisions I made for my professional development.” He discovered the Center in 1997 as an undergraduate student at the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California Sur, studying Marine Biology. Years later, Hinojosa’s Ph.D. in Marine Ecology, coupled with his love of Puerto San Carlos and respect for SFS, brought him back to the Center as a coastal ecologist in 2006 and later as its director in 2008. Hinojosa cites the opportunity to conduct rigorous field research as the highlight of this particular career choice. He explains that the rigor allows him less time to “get away,” but this is not a problem because he “loves the place,” especially working with the marine and coastal systems. In fact, the intimate and interdependent relationship between Puerto San Carlos’ residents and the marine resources is the hallmark of this coastal system, and naturally, the Center’s educational focus. As the relationship between SFS students and local residents increasingly mirrors the aforementioned, Hinojosa feels, “it is very rewarding to hear the positive opinion of many people in town in relation to the School.”  Most local residents of Puerto San Carlos are economically dependent on Magdalena Bay’s marine resources. A growing tourism industry, based on whale watching, provides income for many of them, and fishers ply the waters for commercially important species. This ecosystem is home to bottlenose dolphins, large groups of sea lions, and an important feeding ground and nursery area for East Pacific green turtles and sometimes olive ridley, hawksbill, and rare loggerhead turtles. The area’s high productivity and biodiversity has led the World Wildlife Fund to rank Bahía Magdalena as one of the nine most important coastal habitats needing protection in all of Mexico. There is consensus among researchers and US and Mexican governments that protection of this unique area is vital. However, this already stressed ecosystem suffers from increasing pollution, slack law enforcement, and lack of effective management. For this very reason, the Center, under the guidance of Hinojosa and a small team of dedicated staff and faculty, teaches students to engage with the local community through educational initiatives that attempt to foster stewardship and minimize impact on natural resources.
The Mexican government has planned to declare all of the islands along the Pacific coast of the peninsula as Natural Protected Areas, but Hinojosa says, “such a process is going to be difficult and highlights the importance of local stakeholders, such as SFS to provide information and guidance.” This comes in many forms including long-term research plans that help identify, address, and resolve critical environmental problems, providing information to assist local, regional and national agencies in resource management decision-making. SFS students are currently monitoring the population of sea turtles in the bay with a small graduate and doctoral level committee from the University of La Paz in order to use this research to protect these endangered species. Scientific research is enhanced by community outreach and environmental education towards the local population.
 The other day, under the bright morning sun, several SFS students painted the words “Puede reciclar plastico y cartón aqui” (“You can recycle plastic and cardboard here”) on the white wall of an old warehouse. They were creating a sign for a new recycling program in Puerto San Carlos. This past summer, Brady Wheatley, Student Affairs Manager for the Center, began the ambitious project of reducing trash and litter in this small Mexican fishing village. Over the course of three to four days, Wheatley and students collected a total of 3,000 plastic bottles off the streets of the small town to make a huge display of a plastic sea turtle: simultaneously representing environmental pollution and its effect on the species. This giant plastic turtle was showcased at the annual Turtle Festival in August, which students and local community members, including the Grupo Tortuguero, a global network dedicated to sea turtle conservation in the Peninsula of Baja California, began in 2002 with a mission to promote responsible fishing and sea turtle conservation. The Festival is what Hinojosa believes to be the Center’s biggest accomplishment as attendance has grown from 200 to 10,000 people in the seven years since its birth. SFS works with other local environmental groups including Vigilantes, who have approached the pollution issue with many different tactics. Their environmental education programs include opportunities for the children to help their communities by assisting in beach clean-ups and other real-life projects. They also include presentations at local schools to increase awareness of environmental issues.  Under Hinojosa’s guidance, the Center actively engages in community relationships, with the goal of gaining their trust and respect, in order to raise awareness of environmental issues and promote environmental stewardship. His goal for the Center is to increase the collaboration with research institutions and be able to provide locals with more information. “We are doing environmental education but I dream that we can create jobs for locals to care about the environment.”
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