Going Underwater For a World Worth Protecting | Perpetual Planet: Baja

(Mellow music) - We're 300 meters off the coast of Santo Espiritu Island, and we're lighting an area to attract plankton. Mobulas feed on plankton. Hopefully, they'll come close to us and we'll be able to swim with them. (Mellow music) First, plankton come, then mobulas appear. These stingrays have been around for over 20 million years, but divers like us are recent.

As future visitors are summoned to the feeding frenzy, and the sanctuary is threatened. (Mellow music) What can we do for a world worth protecting? National Geographic and Rolex are sending me across Baja California to explore the way wildlife tourism is evolving in one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. My first stop is Cabo Pulmo. I'm here to meet David Castro, whose family was instrumental in transforming a small fishing village into a global model of sustainability.

• In the '90s, overfishing had decimated Cabo Pulmo's sea life. The reef fell sick and the local economy faltered. - The Castros and their neighbors took a chance. They made a pact to stop fishing and bet on tourism instead. Today, David is taking me on a dive with bull sharks to show me how well Cabo Pulmo's marine population has recovered since it became a Nationally Protected Area.

So, we're 500 meters away from the coast, and there's probably like 10 bull sharks underneath us right now, and we are the crazy people that are gonna go under and dive with them. I'm super excited. I won't lie, I'm a little scared, but I think that's normal. It's the first time I'm gonna dive with sharks. (Mellow music)

As we dive, we come across a school of jacks, swirling like an underwater tornado. (Mellow music) David, suspended in space, is wrapped and swallowed. (Mellow music) From afar, they are a humbling force of nature, up close, a wall of drifting eyes. (Mellow music) This is what a healthy reef looks like. (Mellow music) I almost forget why we're here. (Mellow music) And then, the sharks come. (Mellow music)

Sharks have a negative reputation, but seeing them up close changes everything. (Mellow music) Fear gives way to reverence, and reverence transforms into the desire to protect. - Tourism is kind of the blood flow that allows — - Cabo Pulmo managed to build a blueprint of sustainability the community is eager to share with the world.

My next stop is the Island of Espiritu Santo, a neighboring wildlife hot spot located in the Sea of Cortez. - A National Sanctuary and UNESCO Protected Park, this cluster of small islands was almost developed into a casino resort until locals petitioned the government for protection. Since it was declared a Nationally Protected Area in 1995, small tour boats have been taking adventurous travelers to explore what many consider to be the world's richest outdoor aquarium.

• While most tourists snorkel with sea lions, we decide to dive. We swim towards the massive rock formations jutting from the ocean floor. Between the towers of red rock, sea lions play in a cave. They are fast and agile, and although they gently bite our hands and scuba suits, it's not easy to keep their attention. A new tour group arrives, then another, and another. Suddenly dozens of tourists invade the surface above us, blocking the sunlight, and the sea lions scatter. Guides call this the red wave. Red, the color of their life vests.

I wonder if activities like these are blurring the line between natural sanctuary and amusement park. I'm on my way to La Paz Bay to explore Baja's most established wildlife adventure. The way tourism has evolved here may serve as an example for newer activities. I'm meeting Dení Ramirez, La Paz's foremost whale shark expert and conservationist. Her work has been instrumental in ensuring tourism isn't harming the whale shark.

• Dení takes volunteers on her research missions. By including visitors, she hopes to forge a stronger balance between tourism and conservation. Whale sharks are migratory and collect by the hundreds here when the waters are warm and rich with nutrients. They filter thousands of gallons of water through their gills to capture the massive blooms of plankton they need to sustain their diet. The camera she places on its fin will yield intimate footage from the whale shark's point of view. (Mellow music)

The goal is to see how the shark's behavior changes in the presence of people and boats. (Mellow music) - In traveling through Baja, I've seen the impact of wildlife tourism. It can transform a local economy and help sustain a natural habitat. To find that balance, we must blur the line between local, visitor, and conservationist.