But in 1995, a proposal for a massive saltworks put that quiet spot at risk. Some conservation stories begin with a rescue; this one begins with a factory plan. Each winter, gray whales come to the calm waters of Laguna San Ignacio, a lagoon on Mexico’s Pacific coast, to give birth. Among those who pushed back were actor Pierce Brosnan and his future wife, Keely Shaye Smith.
The whale sanctuary that includes this lagoon holds the most important breeding grounds of the eastern North Pacific gray whale, according to UNESCO .
ESSA was the corporation behind the salt factory. This project is what the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) describes as the world’s largest industrial plant for salt. The fight against this project was led by NRDC and the International Fund for Animal Welfare along with other Mexican environmental organizations. Activists appealed to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee to conduct an investigation and boycotted the Mitsubishi Corporation in California.
Mitsubishi owned 49 percent, while the Mexican government held a 51 percent share. Concerns were raised over the destruction of a place that had stayed wild for so long due to heavy industry.
How it ended and what came next
On March 2, 2000, the Mexican President, Ernesto Zedillo, declared the project to be canceled. UNESCO’s own account states the decision was taken based on an expert mission conducted to the site in August 1999, and Mexico supported the conclusions of the mission. The World Heritage Committee observed that the site was not under any danger then. The mission advised Mexico to consider the lagoon’s World Heritage values when reviewing the saltworks plan. The saltworks were never built.
