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In early January Eastern North Pacific gray whales begin to arrive at their breeding and calving lagoons along the Pacific coast of Baja California, Mexico, thus concluding their amazing, 10,000 mile migration! Scientists and graduate students from Mexico universities arrive at Laguna San Ignacio at about the same time to kick off their annual studies of the visiting whales. Gray whale research is one important project that forms a part of the Laguna San Ignacio Ecosystem Science Program (LSIESP), co-founded by Jorge Urban R. and Steven Swartz in 2006. The purpose of LSIESP is to study and evaluate the health of the different species that live in the lagoon and to share this information with the local community, the Eco-Tour operators and their guests, schools, and government wildlife managers that are responsible for guarding this unique federal marine protected area, which is a part of the Vizcanio Biosphere Reserve.

Each year, LSIESP scientists take digital photographs of gray whales to help identify the whales that return to the lagoon each winter. Each whale has a distinctive pattern of markings that allows scientists to recognize it, thus generating important gray whale migratory data. Eastern North Pacific gray whales, as well as other aquatic species, are exhibiting many behavioral changes as a result of climate change. Their Arctic feeding grounds are experiencing warming ocean waters and reduced seasonal ice in the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. As a result, traditional gray whale feeding grounds no longer provide a reliable food source during the summer. In recent years scientists have observed more gray whales migrating into the Arctic Ocean to search for food, while other whales are feeding further south, in locations off the coast of Alaska and around Kodiak Island, as well as elsewhere along their migration route. Scientists speculate that the arrival of the gray whales in Laguna San Ignacio is occurring approximately two weeks later than it did in the 1970s - 1980s as a result of the whales having to migrate farther north each summer to find sufficient food.

Last year, LSIESP scientists hosted students from the Ejido Luis Echeverria School for a visit to the lagoon and a tour of the LSIESP Laboratory at Kuyimita campground. Local Eco-Tour Operators provided the students with transportation to the lagoon, where they visited “learning stations” to interact with LSIESP scientists and to discuss native marine life and the research being conducted at the lagoon. Many different species of wildlife live year-round in Laguna San Ignacio and depend on a healthy oceanic habitat to survive. Other species, like gray whales and Black Brant geese, migrate to the lagoon during the winter to escape the cold weather of high northern latitudes. In addition to gray whale research, the 2010 LSIESP includes projects studying the marine turtles living in the lagoon, sea birds that nest on Islas Garzas and Pelacanio, eel grass meadows that provide food for Black Brant geese as well as habitat for scallops and fish, and underwater noise from the whales and boats in the lagoon. Each of these different research components reveals important data that will be used to help conserve the precious natural resources of the Laguna San Ignacio ecosystem.