Playa Delfines seeking to become a Natural Protected Area

Playa Delfines, Cancun’s iconic beach, also known as El Mirador, is about to be declared a Natural Protected Area (NPA), along with the San Buenaventura area, next to the Malecón Tajamar.

This was announced by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) in a public notice, in which it states that the polygon to be protected covers an area of 4.8 hectares of this famous beach, which will be given the status of Protected Area of Flora and Fauna.

At the same time, the intention is announced to protect another 37.9 hectares of green area with the status of Protected Area of Flora and Fauna, corresponding to the land owned by Fonatur, known as San Buenaventura, which was a chicle camp before the foundation of Cancun.

The notice published in the Official Gazette of the Federation states that the governments of Quintana Roo and the municipality of Benito Juarez will have 30 working days to express their opinions on this measure.

The day before, Semarnat published another agreement announcing the creation of two new protected natural areas in Quintana Roo, specifically in the municipalities of Cozumel and Benito Juarez.

The one for which there is more information is the so-called Cenote Aerolito, located to the west of the island municipality, which since 2013 has been identified by the National Autonomous University of Mexico as an area of high biological value. The reserve is proposed to cover a total of 10.1 hectares.

According to the UNAM, this cenote is home to 23 species of echinoderms, as well as new families of sponges, and has the presence of almost all groups of marine invertebrates.

A decade ago, UNAM scientists requested that it be declared a protected area, since it is a natural laboratory “replica” of the sea at a depth of three thousand meters, in total darkness.

The second proposal is the declaration of the Jacinto Pat Reserve as a protected area of flora and fauna, with an extension of 17.1 hectares, but the exact location in the municipality of Benito Juárez is not specified, according to what was published in the Official Journal of the Federation.

The studies for the declaration of both protected natural areas are available to the public at the offices of the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas in Cancun, kilometer 4 of the hotel zone.