All language subtitles for Great.Blue.Wild.Series.1.07of11.Sea.of.Cortez.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org.eng

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NARRATOR: Near the southern tip
of Mexico's Baja Peninsula,

an extraordinary story
unfolds...

a coral reef,
burgeoning with life...

all but wiped out,

decimated
by reckless overfishing.

But those that destroyed it
would ultimately save it.

Dazzling schools of fish

once again decorate the reef

and the ocean's
supreme predators

ply these waters once more.

It's fundamentally
a pristine environment

and it's really the only place
like it left

in the Sea of Cortez.

NARRATOR: Cabo Pulmo,

one of the world's most
successful marine reserves,

offers hope in the struggle
to save our threatened seas.

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Off the Eastern Cape
of Mexico's Baja Peninsula,

a pioneering effort is underway:

the first ever study of sharks

in the Bay of Cabo Pulmo.

MAN: Tres, uno.

(Water splashes)

(♪♪♪)

NARRATOR: The shallow seas
here in the Sea of Cortez

teem with life.

More than 200 species of fish
find refuge on the coral reef:

swirling jacks,
powerful bull sharks,

dancing mobula rays,
and mighty whale sharks.

But it wasn't always this way.

Thirty years ago,
the reef lay barren,

its waters deserted.

For the fishermen of Cabo Pulmo,

photographs of prized catch
were all that remained:

memories,
and nothing left to squander.

The remote village of Cabo Pulmo

sits on the southern tip
of the Baja Peninsula -

60 miles from the tourist hotbed
of Los Cabos.

It's perched on the shores
of the Sea of Cortez -

also known as
the Gulf of California.

Cabo Pulmo is hidden away,

surrounded
by undeveloped desert

and the Sierra de la Giganta
mountain range.

It can only be accessed
by a bone-rattling dirt road

winding through dusty plains

that crawl with rattlesnakes.

About 100 people live here.

Solar energy and generators
power the village.

There are no mega-hotels,

no shopping centers,
and no marina.

There's only one way
to launch the boats.

The village's isolation
has limited its prosperity,

but Cabo Pulmo has always had
one thing going for it:

the reef.

It's the only hard coral reef

off the west coast
of North America.

And at 20,000 years,
it's also the oldest.

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In the '60s and '70s,

Cabo Pulmo was a fishing village
like many others.

Times were bountiful.

Local Piscatoris stretched their
nets with tons of fish.

CASTRO: My father used
to tell us that when
he was a child,

he saw in Cabo Pulmo
so many sharks

like the little
pieces of wood

that the rivers brings
to the ocean when it rains.

So, and he said,

"I saw that amount of sharks
in Cabo Pulmo,

but you will never see that
again because we kill it.

All of them."

NARRATOR: By the late 1980s,

local fishermen began seeing
fewer fish.

Those that remained

retreated farther out
to the ocean.

CASTRO: I can tell you
because I remember,

I was child,

that they went out
very early in the morning

and they came back some days
very late, almost dark,

with no fish.

Tired, thirsty, hungry, angry

because they couldn't find.

So the fishing was declining

more and more and more and more.

NARRATOR: Without any fish,
there was no future.

The fishing village
of Cabo Pulmo

was close to collapse.

Realizing their livelihoods
were in jeopardy,

the fishermen, whose fathers
took to the sea before them,

took a drastic step.

They gave up fishing.

Judith's uncle, Juan Castro,
led the campaign

to try to save the bay.

He and others
dedicated themselves

to conservation
and tourism instead.

After several years of effort,
in 1995,

Cabo Pulmo
was officially designated

a national marine park.

It's a no-take reserve,

meaning fishing is banned
within its boundaries.

But the question remained:

would the fish come back?

CASTRO: The two or three years
after that

were the most horrible years,

because we didn't know
what to do.

They only knew how to fish

and nothing else,

so it was really hard.

I remember those years.

Oh my God,
really, really hard years.

And then we were thinking,
maybe we made a mistake.

NARRATOR: The fishermen
of Cabo Pulmo had given up
their livelihoods.

But out on the reef,
little had changed.

In 1999,

researchers conducted a study
of fish in the marine park.

Even after four years
of protection,

the numbers of fish
had barely risen.

Ten years later,
they repeated the study.

This time,
the results were astounding.

In just one decade,

Cabo Pulmo had increased
the total fish biomass

by more than 400 percent.

Nowhere in the
Gulf of California today

are there more fish
per square foot

than in Cabo Pulmo:

schools of Mexican porkfish
in their yellow stripes,

blunthead triggerfish,

and porcupine fish

patrol their own patches
of coral.

The 1.7 tons of fish per acre

recorded on these reefs

rank as some
of the highest anywhere,

making Cabo Pulmo

one of the world's most
successful marine reserves.

The park's success
has been credited to enforcement

by local residents,
boat captains, and dive masters.

Ricardo Castro
runs a local dive shop.

He has been diving in Cabo Pulmo
for more than 20 years

and has logged
more than 7,000 dives.

Like most people here,

his forefathers had fished
these waters

since the turn
of the last century,

selling their catch
to nearby towns.

Over the last five years,

Ricardo has seen a profound
change on the reef.

CASTRO: What I think is
because we don't fish anymore,

I think everything
that there was here before

is coming back, you know.

By talking
to my dad and my uncles,

they used to see the sharks
right on the shore,

you know, every day.

So I think those times
are coming back.

NARRATOR: Cabo Pulmo's 30 square
miles of protected waters

make it one of the world's
largest national marine parks.

Environmentalist
Philippe Cousteau,

grandson of the legendary
oceanographer Jacques Cousteau,

sees Cabo Pulmo as a model

for marine-protected areas
around the world.

COUSTEAU: In my opinion,

Cabo Pulmo is one
of the best diving sites,

not just in the Sea of Cortez,

if not the best diving site
in the Sea of Cortez,

it is better than pretty much,
almost anything I've ever seen

in the Caribbean

or anywhere else
in this part of the world

and Central America.

Less than 1% of the world's
marine parks are no-take,

and so this particular scale,
at 70 square kilometers,

is one of the largest
no-take reserves.

And that means that other than
scuba diving and snorkeling,

it's really left
the way it should be.

It's fundamentally
a pristine environment

and it's really the only place
like it left

in the Sea of Cortez.

NARRATOR: The reef at Cabo Pulmo

is one of the healthiest
in the entire Pacific Ocean.

And with healthy reefs
come monster swarms of fish.

Here a giant school
of trevally jacks,

swarms in a constantly
swirling thick, silvery cloud.

It's amazing, you know?

CASTRO: When you're diving

and when there's a huge school,
a giant school of the jacks,

if we're that far away
from each other,

I wouldn't be able to see you.

We're gonna have
a wall of fish.

Or if you're under the school,
like in the center bottom,

you're not gonna see any sun
going through.

It's totally a cloud, dark.

NARRATOR: The jacks swim
in tightly-formed schools

to protect themselves
from predators.

As the size
of the school increases,

more eyes are able
to scan greater areas

of the ocean for predators,

increasing safety
and allowing more time

to concentrate on feeding.

COUSTEAU: One of my favorite
memories of diving down

here in Cabo Pulmo:

I splashed in the water

and only needed to descend
a few feet before I saw

what looked like a high-school
gymnasium-sized school

of trevally jacks.

I had never seen anything
that large

in this part of the world
in my entire life.

I mean, it took my breath away.

As they swim around you,

it was just a swirling mass
of life.

Unlike anything I've seen
in the Caribbean;

unlike anything I've seen
elsewhere

here in the Sea of Cortez.

And of course,
it couldn't exist anywhere,

because fishermen would go
through it

and clean those jacks out
like that.

It wouldn't take them
more than a few days,

if not a few weeks

to pretty much wipe everything
off this coral reef.

NARRATOR: The explosion of
life on the protected reef

has been astounding.

But the ultimate sign of success

has been the return
of the sharks.

KETCHUM: This place had no
sharks before in the '90s,

before it was a reserve.

I came here in the '90s to dive
and I never saw a shark.

And 10 years after,
it was declared a reserve,

the top predators,
the sharks, returned.

NARRATOR: The presence of a
healthy population of sharks

is final proof that the effort

to restore this national marine
treasure to its former glory

has worked.

But to ensure the sharks remain
in Cabo Pulmo,

there's work yet to be done.

To determine the impact
the marine reserve has had

on the resident
shark population,

marine biologist James Ketchum
and his team

are conducting an ongoing
shark survey in Cabo Pulmo.

KETCHUM: What we're looking at
is the abundance of sharks,

how many sharks are here?

And what is the diversity
of sharks?

What species are we finding
here in Cabo Pulmo?

We chose this place
because of the sharks.

In the 2000s, and 2005,

the sharks started
to return to Cabo Pulmo

and nobody
was studying the sharks.

So that's also one
of the reasons we came here:

to do the first ever study
of the sharks here.

We need to provide
enough information

to the Mexican government
to manage it in the proper way.

What is the proper way?

Well, not having
too many divers,

too many people in the water.

Protecting the sharks
efficiently.

If you have a place
that's not very well managed,

the sharks will leave.

They will be molested
too many times and continuously,

until they just leave the place
and will go somewhere else.

So we don't want that
to happen in Cabo Pulmo.

NARRATOR: Some of the sharks
carry electronic tags

that send individual signals
to an acoustic receiver.

The receiver records
the presence of passing sharks,

and reveals how long a shark
spends at a specific location

and how many times it returns
to the same spot.

Data on these daily movements
allow researchers

to learn about shark residency
and habitat use.

KETCHUM: We also wanted to study
how efficient is this reserve?

Other than just saying
it's a good reserve,

we just want to know
how many sharks are here

and how long they stay here

to measure, in that way,
the efficiency of the reserve.

NARRATOR: Research takes place
under water and on land.

Students positioned
20 to 30 feet above the sea,

keep lookout for sharks
cruising along the shore.

Many sharks hunt
in shallow waters,

close to the shoreline.

KETCHUM: We've seen 11 species
of sharks so far.

So we have here a number
of sharks, a high diversity
of sharks,

a high abundance
of some of these species.

So it's quite an amazing place

in terms of shark ecology
and biology here.

NARRATOR: Bull sharks are
the most common species
found at Cabo Pulmo,

although whitetips,
nurse sharks,

and Galapagos sharks
also ply these waters.

For years, bull sharks
were nowhere to be seen.

Once the area was fished out,

there was nothing here
for them to eat.

But these pelagic predators
have returned in abundance,

though curiously,
they rarely seem to be hunting.

KETCHUM: When we see bull sharks
in Cabo Pulmo here, for example,

they're just resting.

It's kind of a refuging,
resting station.

What they are doing,

they're not really feeding
when you're looking at,

they're not really breeding.

But they're probably moving
into foraging grounds

or foraging at night
or in the afternoon

when nobody is looking
at bull sharks.

NARRATOR: Bull sharks
cruise slowly

through the shallow,
warm waters.

They may appear sluggish,

but are capable
of quick bursts of speed

to catch small, agile prey.

With the strongest bite
of all shark species,

more powerful
than a great white,

they can attack turtles,
dolphins, even other sharks.

Bull sharks get their name
from their short blunt snout,

used to head-butt and stun prey,

and from their supposed
pugnacious temperament.

KETCHUM: It's a big predator,

but actually my feeling
is a feeling of

"I want to see more sharks."

It's just beautiful.

I love diving with sharks,

because every time
you're in the water with them,

you see something new.

They're very
unpredictable animals.

Most of them are top predators.

So that's their nature,
to be unpredictable.

And that makes them
more incredible to see

how they move around.

That's also-- they're perfect
movements in the water.

They're a perfect machine
in that sense.

Amazing animals.

I have never felt threatened
by sharks in my entire life.

Particularly, bull sharks.

It's about respect.

The dive guides down here
in Cabo Pulmo are world-class

and it is one of my favorite
things to do in the world.

I like to remind people

that people are more likely
to die from a coconut

than be attacked by sharks.

More people die
from goldfish-related accidents

in the United States every year
than from shark attack.

So if you're afraid of sharks
or being attacked by a shark,

don't ever leave your house.

Because driving in your car,
walking across the street,

all those things
are far more dangerous.

If you see a bull shark
here in Cabo Pulmo,

consider yourself lucky,

because seeing sharks
is just a rare treat in life.

And forget all the hype
and the fear

that the media dumps
onto these majestic animals

and just appreciate
how beautiful they are.

NARRATOR: Recently, whitetip
reef sharks tagged by Ketchum

in the Socorro Islands,
more than 300 miles away,

have turned up in Cabo Pulmo.

Whitetip reef sharks

are not typically
long-distance travelers.

It's believed
these Socorro whitetips

followed warm currents
powered by El Niño.

KETCHUM: Well, El Niño
has two sides.

It's two sides of the coin.

One side brings bad news,
'cause the water's too warm.

The thermocline drops down,

that means that all
the nutrients are trapped deep,

so there's no replenishment
of nutrients

in the surface waters.

So there's no food basically.

So that's bad news
for many species,

for top predators
and a number of species.

But on the other side
of the coin is good news,

because we have
migration of species

that otherwise can't make it
to places

where they can live.

Like, an example is
the whitetip reef.

The whitetip reef is pretty much
restricted to Socorro Islands,

to that archipelago or was.

And now it's able
to inhabit other places,

like the Gulf of California--
southern Gulf of California.

So it's good news
in some sense.

NARRATOR: One species that is
known for its migratory behavior

is the whale shark.

The largest fish in the sea,

it is the largest fish that has
ever lived on our planet.

The length of a school bus,

a 40-foot whale shark
can weigh more than 20 tons,

four times the size
of the great white shark.

Its mouth is wide enough

to allow four divers
to swim in at once.

By tagging whale sharks,

scientists are able to learn
about their migration habits.

One whale shark was tracked
from the Sea of Cortez

to a spot more than 8,000 miles
across the Pacific Ocean.

The largest fish in the world

is also one
of the most mysterious.

Tagged whale sharks
will disappear for weeks,

descending more than a mile

into the chilly depths
of the oceans.

Little is known about their
mating and birthing habits.

But studies here
are shedding new light.

The southern Sea of Cortez
is thought to be a pupping area

for whale sharks
that migrate to breed.

KETCHUM: A few years back,
we saw a large female

just-- not too far from here,
it's called Gorda Banks,

that had her cloaca open,

it just had pupped.

And her sides of the belly
were fluffed.

So we have very strong evidence
that these sharks are pupping

here in the southern
Sea of Cortez.

NARRATOR: Here an adult and two
juveniles feed near the surface.

It's believed that whale sharks
pup at great depths,

then remain there for months.

Deep water offers protection
from predators,

such as blue marlin and orcas,
that prey on young whale sharks.

Mother and pup stay in the deep

until the pup
is at least 6 feet long.

They then come to the surface,
to a secondary nursery,

where juveniles gather.

KETCHUM: Here in
the Bay of La Paz,

we have a secondary nursery
of high importance.

So we see 2, 3 meter
whale sharks there

typically every year.

So we know that
they're probably pupping here.

They stay in the deeper part

of the Sea of Cortez/
Gulf of California

and then they reach
a certain size

and they come to the surface
and they stay in-shore

for protection
and for feeding on plankton.

NARRATOR: The largest fish
in the sea

feeds on some of the smallest.

Plankton is the most
abundant food in the sea,

and whale sharks are one
of three known shark species

that filter feed on these
microscopic plants and animals.

The sharks filter plankton
through pads

that cover the entrance
of the throat.

Giant gulps at the surface
draw water into the mouth

suctioning in the plankton.

A single shark can filter

more than 160,000 gallons
of water per hour.

That's enough water to fill
an Olympic-sized swimming pool

in just four hours.

KETCHUM: It's incredible.

When you see
a really large whale shark

over 10 meters in length,

it's not only the length,
it's also the girth.

It's like a humongous submarine.

So when we were studying
the whale sharks

in the Bay of La Paz,

the first thing you have to do
is look at the sex,

what's the gender,
what's the sex of the shark.

For juveniles, it's easy.

You just drop down
a little bit

and you can look
for the claspers.

Male sharks have two organs
that are called claspers.

When you see a shark
over 10 meters in length,

you have to really dive down.

You're diving down
several meters down

to go under the shark,
look if it has claspers or not.

So they're humongous animals.

COUSTEAU: They'll come
right towards you

and just kinda swim
right past you,

and like they don't have a care
in the world.

And their mouth
is 6 feet wide,

this huge, gaping black hole,

and you think, "Oh, my goodness,
I'm going to get sucked in."

You don't.

They know you're there.

They don't wanna get you
in there,

'cause they can't eat you
anyway,

so it's not a good thing.

So, you know,
they're really gentle giants.

But to see something the size
of a small submarine

coming towards you,

it's certainly
a humbling experience

and might make you catch
your breath for a moment,

but it's really one
of those sights in the ocean,

those experiences in the ocean,
that I've never forgotten.

That no one forgets
when they see it.

And it's just awe-inspiring.

NARRATOR: As the sun sets
over the Sea of Cortez,

another filter feeder
swoops through the water

in the dark of night.

Nowhere near the size
of the whale shark,

but in such large numbers,

that it's equally remarkable:
the mobula ray.

As each ray glides
through the water,

two blade-like fins
channel water

into the ray's wide-open mouth

where gills sift out
microscopic plankton and krill.

Powerful wing beats

constantly propel the rays
through the water,

passing oxygen-rich water
over the gills for respiration.

(♪♪♪)

The non-stop action
is a bit too much

for this pufferfish,
which makes a hasty retreat.

Mobula aggregations,

particularly common
at breeding times,

can number in the hundreds.

(♪♪♪)

But these large shoals
are vulnerable

to commercial fishing.

Mobulas are highly valued
in international trade:

used for Chinese medicine,

and as an ingredient
of shark-fin soup.

A single haul of a fishing net
through one of these shoals

can draw in many rays,

dramatically decreasing
the population.

Today the protected waters
of Cabo Pulmo

are similar to those
of a coral reef

that has never been fished.

The coral reef functions
as a nursery

for a vast number of animals
that live in the Sea of Cortez,

and the benefits
of its protection

extend well beyond
the confines of the reef.

Away from the marine park,
fishing has improved.

Fishermen outside
the park's boundaries

take advantage
of this spill-over effect.

To prevent fishing from
once again decimating the reef,

marine park staff Daniel Gatica
and Alicia Chávez

patrol Cabo Pulmo's
protected waters.

They're on the lookout
for poachers

with weighted gill nets that
haul in anything that swims by,

including sharks and rays.

The illegal fishing boats
often try to evade capture.

NARRATOR: Park rangers arrest
and fine the fishermen,

and confiscate
their illegal fishing boats.

But it's not just poachers

that concern
the Cabo Pulmo marine patrol.

Scuba diving boats
can also pose a problem.

(Speaking in Spanish)

Buenos dias.

Buenos dias.

CHÁVEZ: Your bracelet.

NARRATOR: Park staff
check that the dive boat

has the proper park permits,

and that divers have purchased
a park wristband.

They tightly control the number
of divers at Cabo Pulmo

and instruct divers
never to touch

the fragile corals
on the reef.

(Speaking in Spanish)

NARRATOR: In the distance,
the marine patrol spots

what look like fishermen
near the shore.

They head closer to inspect.

(Speaking in Spanish)

GATICA: James, James' workers.

It's James' students.
They're looking the sharks
in this area.

NARRATOR: The fishermen turn out
to be shark researchers

working with marine biologist
James Ketchum.

NARRATOR: 70 feet below the
surface of the Sea of Cortez

lies a ghostly relic,

claimed by the power of the sea:

the wreck of the Fang Ming,

a Chinese fishing vessel
seized by authorities

for attempting to smuggle
nearly 100 migrant workers

into the United States.

(♪♪♪)

In 1999,

the confiscated
180-foot-long vessel

was intentionally sunk

to create an artificial reef,

the first of its kind
in Latin America.

Today, the Fang Ming is a haven
for marine life:

reef cornetfish...

a green moray eel...

an olive ridley turtle.

Of all the sea turtles,
olive ridleys are the smallest,

weighing on average
about 75 pounds.

They are also the most abundant,

though their survival
is threatened.

In the water,
fishing nets take their toll.

On land, nesting females
are slaughtered

for their meat and skin.

Most hatchlings die
on the beach

before reaching the ocean,

preyed on by birds, crabs
and even dogs.

For every 1,000 eggs laid,

just one hatchling
will survive to breeding age.

On the beaches
lining the Sea of Cortez,

there are a small number
of nesting sites.

A disturbance
to even one nest beach

can have a dramatic effect
on the turtle population.

At Cabo Pulmo,

Daniel and Alicia
work to ensure

that sea turtles
have a safe place to nest,

hatch, and eventually
make their way to the sea.

These young conservationists
search the beach

for vulnerable nests,

then move them
to a protected corral.

They bury the eggs
for six weeks

under heavy sand
nearly 2 feet deep.

(Alicia speaking in Spanish)

NARRATOR: The progress of each
protected nest is monitored

to ensure that the greatest
number of hatchlings survive.

When the eggs hatch,
babies crawl to the surface,

orient to the ocean,

and scramble instinctively
to the sea.

It's a dangerous journey,
fraught with predators.

But marine park staff
don't take the hatchlings

directly to the sea.

Hatchlings need to experience
the beach

and even taste the sand,

as they scurry down the beach
to the surf.

It's believed this helps create
a chemical memory

of their birthplace,

so they may return
to the same spot

in 12 to 15 years
to lay their own eggs.

It takes more than an hour
for each tiny hatchling

to push its way
over the thick, wet sand.

(♪♪♪)

The water doesn't always
offer the sanctuary it seeks,

but this one
gets a helping hand.

Each wave knocks it back.

(♪♪♪)

But the turtle is determined,

and after about a dozen
unsuccessful attempts,

a wave carries it out to sea,
on the start of an epic journey.

North of Cabo Pulmo,
at Los Islotes,

overzealous fishing
has had a dramatic impact

on large colonies
of Baja California sea lions.

Diminished local fish stocks

have driven these sea lions
into deeper waters

to hunt for fish beyond the
reach of commercial fishermen.

California sea lions
are opportunistic eaters,

feeding on fish, squid,
and small sharks.

They typically hunt
at the surface

down to about 80 feet.

But they can dive as deep
as 1,200 feet

and hold their breath
for up to 20 minutes...

(♪♪♪)

An amazing feat,
enabled by a physiology

that's evolved
over millions of years.

When starting a dive,

sea lions slow their heart rate,

stop their breathing,

and divert blood flow
from the extremities

to the brain, heart,
and muscles.

They are natural-born swimmers.

Large front flippers
power their streamlined bodies

through the water at speeds
up to 25 miles an hour.

Thick layers of blubber,
and a coat of coarse hair,

provide insulation
from chilly marine waters.

The sea lion's whiskers
contain nerve fibers

that aid in navigation
through ocean waters

and detect vibrations
from prey in the water.

Hunting sessions can last
as long as 30 hours.

This young female has hit
upon a school of jacks.

The school is designed
to confuse predators.

But she displays
a remarkable hunting technique.

From a school
of hundreds of jacks,

the sea lion
focuses on just one.

She tears after the fish,

even as the jack tries
to hide within the school,

the sea lion continues
her relentless pursuit,

until the fish is too tired
to outswim the hunter.

In the water, sea lions
are flexible and agile.

On land,
powerful front flippers

and a rotating hip bone,

allow them to drag their
burly bodies over the rocks.

They gather in protected areas
near the shore

and spend hours
lolling in the sun.

On land,
they have no predators.

In the sea,
great white sharks and orcas

pose the greatest threat.

When not hunting,

young sea lions have one thing
on their minds: play.

Juveniles chase each other,
wrestle,

and practice territorial battles
for hours on end.

Despite a diminished
food supply,

due in part to overfishing,

the sea lion population
at Los Islotes

has increased by 20 percent
since 1991.

These curious animals have
learned to adapt and thrive.

Back in Cabo Pulmo,

diving on the reef
is like traveling back in time,

when all of the Sea of Cortez
teemed with life.

Today, the waters of Cabo Pulmo
contain sights,

rarely seen around the world.

COUSTEAU: It's no secret that
the oceans are suffering.

When you talk about,
not just overfishing,

but you add ocean acidification,
climate change,

all these different issues,
the oceans,

the life support system
of this planet,

are getting hammered.

However, there are some things
that we can do on a local level

to help protect the oceans

and to make them
as resilient as possible

in the face of some
of these larger global problems.

And one of the best things
that we can do

to protect our oceans
is to create marine reserves.

In particular,

no-take marine reserves
like here at Cabo Pulmo.

They've been proven to work.

It's essentially saying

that, you know, we can provide
areas in the ocean

where human beings
aren't pulling stuff out

and dumping stuff in.

And give it a break.

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KETCHUM: Here you have
a formula that worked.

You have a beautiful location.

You have a beautiful habitat
of many different species.

But if you don't protect that,
that will be gone,

because we'll get fished out.

So what happens in Cabo Pulmo,

you also have a community
of local people

that have been here for decades;
for almost 100 years.

So they learn
to protect this place.

So this was like an experiment.

And it worked.

And we're hoping
to have other Cabo Pulmos

in other parts
of the Gulf of California,

because if you repeat
this formula,

we know it's gonna work.

COUSTEAU: Fishermen up
and down this coast

will tell you they don't want
their kids to become fishermen,

because they see the decline
in the health of the fisheries

along here

and that it's a diminishing
return on investment

and they want their children
to go and do something else.

Whereas, what they've built
here in Cabo Pulmo

is truly an investment
in the future

and is value that continues
to grow for the next generation.

CASTRO: Cabo Pulmo,

it's my life.

It's been my dad's, my mom's,

and my grandpa's life,
you know?

And I wish
it's gonna be my kids' life,

you know?

I'm very proud of Cabo Pulmo.

The town itself,

but also
what we have on the ocean.

As you can see,
it's a beautiful place.

Unfortunately, we don't have
that many places in the world

like Cabo Pulmo.

We have to start taking care
of those places.

So our kids, the world kids,

can enjoy these kinds of places.

NARRATOR: Inspired by
the success of Cabo Pulmo,

Mexico has plans to extend
its marine sanctuaries

to include up to 10 percent
of its seas.

One of the world's
most successful marine reserves

is now a model
for other marine-protected areas

around the world.

And one of the many wonders
of the Great Blue Wild.

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