Cozumel Reefs

Cozumel Reefs National Park was decreed in 1996 in the Mexican Caribbean, off the south-western coast of the island of Cozumel, in Quintana Roo. It protects a set of reef formations that constitute the northern end of the Mesoamerican Reef System, the second largest barrier reef system in the world after the Australian one, which extends from here to Honduras.

The configuration of the Cozumel channel, with deep water very close to the shore and a constant north-to-south current, has shaped reefs of great vertical development, with walls, canyons and arches dropping tens of metres. That combination of exceptional visibility, current and structure made these reefs famous in international diving from the Jacques Cousteau expeditions of the 1960s, and underwater tourism is today the main economic activity tied to the park and also its main source of pressure.

The reefs are home to stony corals, sea fans and sponges, with an associated fauna that includes parrotfish, groupers, barracuda, nurse sharks and hawksbill and green turtles. Cozumel also has notable land endemics, such as the island's pygmy raccoon and dwarf coati, although these fall outside the park's marine scope. The main threats are bleaching from warming water, the stony coral tissue loss disease that has struck the Caribbean in recent years, anchor damage and the pressure of very heavy cruise tourism.