Saving the Gray Whale: People, Politics, and Conservation in Baja California (Society, Environment, and Place)

The peninsula of Baja California is a place little known even within Mexico, a place, until very recently, of isolated fishing villages and single-lane roads. Now great fleets of fishing boats from all over the world, coupled with a gigantic saltworks and other industrial development, threaten the waters off Baja California--a favored habitat of the gray whale, a creature that has received much attention in recent years.

Once endangered throughout much of its range, the gray whale has made a comeback thanks to international efforts to preserve the species. Ecologist Serge Dedina discusses how those efforts can be extended to Baja California, where much of the whale's habitat is threatened. Dedina proposes ways to involve local fishing people in whale conservation, by, for instance, developing a locally owned, whale-watching-based tourist industry of the sort that brings millions of dollars to California and British Columbia, other stops along the gray whale's migratory route. "Conservation," Dedina writes in this engaging study, "is more than a political process. It intersects with the way people live, perceive, and interact with the animals and landscape around them." His book, full of useful lessons, will be of much interest to conservationists working with animals and habitats of all kinds, as well as to anyone concerned about the gray whale's future. --Gregory McNamee