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Fishers, scientists restore mangroves on a Mexican isle wrecked by salt mining

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In recent decades, salt extraction has taken its toll on the mangroves and wetlands of Isla del Carmen, in the Mexican municipality of Loreto. Since the start of the 20th century, salt mining even led to the creation of a town for workers traveling back and forth every day by boat. The industry boom ended in the 1980s, leaving only the ruins of buildings, machinery, a church and a dock. The island, situated in the Gulf of California, hasn’t been the same since. The severe environmental deterioration has left its mark. “That activity has undoubtedly created deterioration on the island,” said biologist Arturo Peña, director of the Loreto office of Vida Silvestre (OVIS), a conservation NGO that has spent three decades helping protect the area. “In the process, they had to flood certain lagoons and allow the sun to do its job evaporating the water, to get the salt.” Bahía de Loreto National Park was created in the 1970s to protect five islands, including Isla del Carmen. But the salt mine rush hit the southeast part of the island, called Bahía Salinas, where black mangroves (Avicennia germinans) grew. “When salt extraction ended, the island was abandoned and the people who lived there returned to the mainland to form the community of Ensenada Blanca,” Peña said. Today, the children and grandchildren of the salt workers live there. And since 2021, they’ve been the ones restoring the Isla del Carmen ecosystems. “There are 12 of us in the community — five women…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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