12182016Sun
Last updateFri, 16 Dec 2016 2pm

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Beach paradise closed as degraded coral reef is nursed back to health

Visitors to the Marieta Islands off the Jalisco/Nayarit coast will be prohibited from visiting the fabled Playa de Amor (Beach of Love, or Hidden Beach as it it is more commonly known)

at least for the next four months while work is carried out to halt the decay of the adjoining coral reef.  

The Hidden Beach is considered one of the wonders of western Mexico. It is invisible from the outside, and only accessible through a long water tunnel that links the beach to the Pacific Ocean.

According to the National Commission for Protected Areas (Conanp), the massive increase in the number of tour boats anchoring and depositing fuel at the beach over the past four years has contributed to the decline of the coral reef, along with the warming of the Pacific Ocean.  

Investigators at the Universidad de Guadalajara’s Centro Universitario de la Costa (CUC) in Puerto Vallarta say on some days as many as 2,200 tourists visit the beach when the maximum limit should be 95.

The number of tourists who visit the islands each year has increased from 27,500 to 323,000 since 2012, says Conanp Director Alejandro Del Mazo.

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