一些保护故事始于一次救援；而这个故事始于一项工厂计划。每到冬天，灰鲸会来到墨西哥太平洋海岸拉古纳圣伊格纳西奥潟湖的平静水域，在这里繁殖后代。根据联合国教科文组织的说法，包含该潟湖的鲸鱼保护区拥有东北太平洋灰鲸最重要的繁殖地。但1995年，一项建设大型盐厂的提案使这片宁静之地面临风险。
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. According to UNESCO, the whale sanctuary that includes this lagoon holds the most important breeding grounds of the eastern North Pacific gray whale. But in 1995, a proposal for a massive saltworks put that quiet spot at risk.
反对这一计划的人士包括演员皮尔斯·布鲁斯南及其未来妻子基利·谢伊·史密斯。为何此潟湖如此重要拉古纳圣伊格纳西奥位于下加利福尼亚州。它是联合国教科文组织世界遗产埃尔维斯卡伊诺鲸鱼保护区的一部分，该遗产地于1993年被列入名录，就在盐厂计划提出之前。灰鲸会从北极迁徙数千英里，来到这些温暖浅水的水域，母鲸在此分泌并哺育幼崽。
Among those who pushed back were actor Pierce Brosnan and his future wife, Keely Shaye Smith. Why this lagoon matters so muchLaguna San Ignacio is in Baja California Sur. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaíno, inscribed in 1993, just before the saltworks plan came up. Gray whales migrate thousands of miles from the Arctic to these warm, shallow waters where mothers give birth to and nurse their young.
科学家们曾研究鲸鱼如何利用这一潟湖。其中一项研究体现在布鲁斯·马特、芭芭拉·拉格奎斯特和豪尔赫·乌尔班-拉米雷斯于2003年发表在《鲸类研究与管理》期刊上的论文。1996年2月，研究人员为12头灰鲸装载了卫星发射器。其中6头是带着幼崽的母鲸，另外6头是没有幼崽的鲸鱼。母鲸在潟湖停留的时间比其他鲸鱼更长，并且反复往返于潟湖之间。
Scientists have studied how whales use the lagoon. One such effort appears in a 2003 paper by Bruce Mate, Barbara Lagerquist and Jorge Urban-Ramirez in the Journal of Cetacean Research and Management. In February 1996, the researchers tagged 12 gray whales with satellite transmitters. Six were mothers with young and six were whales without young. The mothers stayed in the lagoon longer than the other whales, making repeated journeys to and from it.
该研究受限于样本量较小。它还指出，圣伊格纳西奥是下加利福尼亚州太平洋海岸仅有的三个主要繁殖和产仔潟湖之一。巨型计划与全球反击ESSA公司是该盐厂背后的企业。三菱持股49%，而墨西哥政府持有51%的股份。该项目被自然资源保护委员会（NRDC）描述为世界上最大的工业盐厂。人们担心重工业会破坏一个长期保持原始状态的地方。
The study was limited by its small sample size. It also notes that San Ignacio is one of only three major breeding and calving lagoons along the Pacific coast of Baja California. A giant plan and a global pushbackESSA was the corporation behind the salt factory. Mitsubishi owned 49 percent, while the Mexican government held a 51 percent share. This project is what the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) describes as the world’s largest industrial plant for salt. Concerns were raised over the destruction of a place that had stayed wild for so long due to heavy industry.
反对该项目的斗争由美国自然资源保护协会（NRDC）和国际动物福利基金会以及其他墨西哥环保组织牵头。活动人士呼吁联合国教科文组织世界遗产委员会进行调查，并抵制加州的三菱公司。皮尔斯·布鲁斯南及其妻子基莉·谢伊·史密斯等名人支持了该运动。他们于2001年在斗争之后结婚。名人的参与可能吸引关注，但他们只是更大故事的一部分。
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. Celebrities like Pierce Brosnan and his wife Keely Shaye Smith were in support of the campaign. They got married in 2001, after the fight. Famous names may attract attention, but they were only part of a bigger story.
该组织表示，其支持者发送了超过一百万封反对信，且包括九位诺贝尔奖得主在内的34名科学家加入了该运动。该项目如何终结及其后续发展2000年3月2日，墨西哥总统恩斯特尼奥·塞迪略宣布该项目取消。联合国教科文组织的官方记载指出，该决定是基于1999年8月对该地点进行的专家考察任务所作出的，且墨西哥支持该任务的结论。
The organization says its supporters sent more than a million letters of opposition, and that 34 scientists, including nine Nobel laureates, joined the cause. How it ended and what came nextOn 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.
世界遗产委员会指出，当时该遗址并未面临任何危险。该任务建议墨西哥在审议盐场计划时考虑该潟湖的世界遗产价值。盐场最终未被建造。
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.
为确保该计划不再卷土重来，采取了相应措施。拉古纳圣伊格纳西奥保护联盟于2005年成立，旨在为潟湖周边土地提供永久保护。NRDC的乔尔·雷诺兹表示，是否取消该计划应由墨西哥人和墨西哥领导人决定。如今，该潟湖也因其友善的鲸鱼而闻名，母鲸和幼鲸有时会靠近游客的船只。
Efforts were made to ensure the plan did not resurface. The Laguna San Ignacio Conservation Alliance was created in 2005 in order to provide permanent protection for the lands which surround the lagoon. NRDC's Joel Reynolds says it was for Mexicans and Mexican leaders to decide whether the plan should be cancelled. Today, the lagoon is also known for its friendly whales, and mothers and calves sometimes approach visitors' boats.