Facts & Specs
After the Malay peninsula is the Baja California the second longest isolated peninsula in the world extending over 1070 kilometers to the south from his base on the pacific westcoast. The Sea of Cortez between the mexican mainland and the baja is relative narrow extending from warm temperature areas in the north to the tropics in the south. It has a great diversity of organisms within this 10 degrees of latitude
Until recently the areas around the Sea of Cortez been relative untouched by human activities. The islands within the Gulf of California are some of the most pristine archipelagos reminding on our planet. They and the surrounding seas are from huge ecological value and considered a great natural laboratory and a habitat for countless species of animals.
The waters between the Baja California peninula and the Mainland of Mexico are named by the spanish explorer Francisco de Ulloa El “Mar de Cortes”, (The Sea of Cortez), to honor his leader, Hernan Cortez. The official name of this partly enclosed sea is El Golfo de California, (The Gulf of California). The origin of the Sea of Cortez is related to a segment of the East Pacific rise and split the Baja Peninsula from the mexican mainland, shifting the Baja and parts of southern California in a north-west direction relative to Northamerica. During this process 4 to 6 million years ago the Baja California Peninsula and subsequently the Gulf of California been created.
Increased commercial fishing interests and agricultural development in surrounding coastal areas threaten the unique state of the Sea of Cortez, and in the last few decades there has been a substantial decline in the distribution and abundance of many species.
