Seabirds of the Gulf of California, Mexico: what have they taught us?

Dr. Enriqueta Velarde

Enriqueta Velarde was born and raised in Mexico City, and has worked since 1979 studying seabird ecology. She has visited Isla Rasa every spring for the past 39 years to measure, weigh, census, band, and observe the seabirds. She has also researched the interrelationship of bird population size to anchovy and sardine stocks in the Gulf of California. Velarde and her team have been successful in convincing fishermen to stop illegally ransacking birds’ nests to sell the eggs, and they have totally eradicated invasive rats and mice that had a devastating effect on the seabird population. Additionally, Enriqueta has established a close collaboration with the indigenous Mexican Comcaac community and worked with them and biologist colleagues to train and empower the Comcaac to manage their own natural resources in the towns of Punta Chueca and El Desemboque in the state of Sonora along the west coast of the Gulf of California. She has done similar work with groups of local women in the town of Bahía de los Ángeles in the state of Baja California. At present, she is full time researcher at the Universidad Veracruzana in Mexico. Her main interests are seabird life history, genetics, and adaptations to present and past food availability, and nesting conditions for their long term survival. She is also interested how seabirds can be used to learn about the ocean conditions and as sentinels of the environment as well as indicators of forage fish populations, for management purposes. Also of interest to her are the sources of seabird mortality due to human activities and how to mitigate them. Velarde’s book, Islas del Golfo de California, was also used as the base for the designation of the Gulf of California islands as a World Heritage site!