Isla Guadalupe, a popular destination for shark divers, has been permanently closed by the Mexican government to all diving activities. The closure, effective January 11, 2023, follows an earlier restriction in May 2022 that suspended both cage diving and sport fishing. The new ban also includes all tourism activities, film and TV productions and is described as “permanent”.

A white shark gets up close and personal with some caged humans. Credit: Shane Myers Photography / iStock

Guadalupe Island is a volcanic island located 130 nautical miles off the western coast of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula and about 261 miles south of San Diego, and home to a large population of white sharks. Scientists have been able to identify and name 380 individual sharks that are regularly found in the Isla Guadalupe waters. Many documentaries filmed for Discovery Shark Week and Nat Geo’s Shark Fest that have been filmed there in the past decades, along with numerous other movies and commercials.

In 2000, the MV Horizon was the first vessel to cage dive with great white sharks at Guadalupe. On January 22, 2023, Horizon Charters announced they would be closing their business as a result of the closure.

Horizon announced on Facebook, “Unfortunately, the closure of Guadalupe Island has left us financially tapped out. We cannot do the right thing by our divers with $500,000 in refunds and stay in business. So we made the decision to sell the company to a new operator who will be taking the MV Horizon in a new direction at the end of February 2023.”

Horizon added “The MV Horizon will continue to refund diver deposits and we are asking if you can leave a little behind to consider it. We are fully committed to doing the right thing as we always have. Other vessels are not giving diver money back for the Guadalupe closure and that’s unfortunate. This is not the way the dive industry should treat it’s valued guests.”

While the closure by the Mexican Government was done “to avoid altering (shark)  habitat, behavior and feeding sites, and thereby preserve and conserve the species”, some are concerned that the closure may in fact result in harm to the populations of sharks and other wildlife in the area. Dive vessels at Guadalupe during the diving season helped to oversee the area and monitor what was happening in the vicinity. The lack of on-site surveillance potentially opens the door to poaching, illegal fishing, bycatch in other fisheries, and a loss of research data.

 

Additional Resources:
Be A Shark Diving, and Adventure Travel has set up a web page dedicated to the closure, with more detailed information on the closure.