Tiburón Island is the largest island in the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja C ...

and the largest island in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, with an area of . It was made a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

in 1963 by President

Adolfo López Mateos Adolfo López Mateos (; 26 May 1909 – 22 September 1969) was a Mexican politician who served as President of Mexico from 1958 to 1964. Beginning his political career as a campaign aide of José Vasconcelos during his run for president, Ló ...

Etymology

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

for '

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachi ...

'. Although the Seri name, , was first recorded by

Alphonse Pinart Alphonse Louis Pinart (26 February 1852 — 13 February 1911) was a French scholar, linguist, ethnologist and collector, specialist on the American continent. He studied the civilizations of the New World in the manner of the pioneers of the tim ...

in 1879, its etymology is unknown. Isla Tiburon island

Geography

Tiburón Island is part of the Mexican state of Sonora, as well as the

Hermosillo Municipality Hermosillo is a municipality in Sonora in north-western Mexico. The municipal seat is the city of Hermosillo. As municipal seat, the city of Hermosillo is the local government of over 3,800 other localities, with a combined territory of 14,880.2& ...

, and is located at approximately the same latitude as the city of

Hermosillo Hermosillo (), formerly called Pitic (as in ''Santísima Trinidad del Pitic'' and ''Presidio del Pitic''), is a city located in the center of the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. It is the municipal seat of the Hermosillo municipality, the ...

. It is located along the eastern shore of the Gulf of California, opposite

Isla Ángel de la Guarda Isla Ángel de la Guarda, (Guardian Angel Island) also called Archangel Island, is a large island in the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) east of Bahía de los Ángeles in northwestern Mexico, separated from the Baja California Peninsula by the ...

. It is part of the chain of islands known as the Midriff Islands or Islas Grandes. The island has a prominent mountain system of volcanic origin.

History

Tiburón Island is part of the traditional homeland of some bands (or clans) of the

Seri people The Seri or ''Comcaac'' are an indigenous group of the Mexican state of Sonora. The majority reside on the Seri communal property ( es, ejido), in the towns of Punta Chueca ( sei, Socaaix) and El Desemboque ( sei, Haxöl Iihom, link=no) on th ...

, for many centuries if not millennia. During the 1960s and early 1970s, a small hunting and fishing camp on the northern end of the island was operated by Jesus Olivas, a resident of Hermosillo. He constructed several buildings, a dock and an airstrip near the historic Seri encampment at Tecomate. The camp was popular with American visitors to the area. The remains of the structures and airstrip are still in place (although the airstrip was rendered unusable by the Mexican military around 1995 in an attempt to keep it from being used by smugglers active in the area at the time). The Mexican government, through a decree by President Echeverría, gave the Seri "recognition and title of communal property" () with respect to Tiburón Island in 1975. The island is uninhabited (except for Mexican military encampments on the eastern and southern shores of the island) and is administered as an ecological preserve by the Seri tribal government in conjunction with the federal government.

Bighorn sheep The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns. A pair of horns might weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspec ...

were introduced to the island in the 1980s; hunting is managed by the tribal government in coordination with Mexican federal authorities. It is also home to a unique subspecies of coyote (''Canis latrans jamesi'') and

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whi ...

(''Odocoileus hemionus sheldoni'') that are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the island.

Transportation

The island can be reached from

Punta Chueca Punta Chueca (Seri: ) is a Seri town located on the Gulf of California in the Mexican state of Sonora. It is located 25 kilometers north of the fishing and tourist town of Bahía de Kino. Both of these towns are part of the Municipality of Hermos ...

, which is the nearest community inhabited by members of the Seri tribe, and from Bahía de Kino, a non- Seri community to the south. The distance from Punta Chueca to Punta Tormenta, the nearest point on the island, is . The channel between the mainland and the island is called ('Tiny Hell's Channel') because of the strong

tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

currents and shoal water that occur there which can make navigation challenging. Hast Cacöla desde Socaaix con pangas

Recreation

Two permits are required for day hiking and overnight stays on the island: one from the Seri Governor's office in Punta Chueca and another from the ISLAS office in Bahía de Kino.

In popular culture

In 2012, two television episodes of '' Survivorman'' were filmed on Tiburón Island, featuring

Les Stroud Les Stroud (born October 20, 1961) is a Canadian survival expert, filmmaker and musician best known as the creator, writer, producer, director, cameraman and host of the television series ''Survivorman''. Stroud was named Chief Scout by Sc ...

as he spends ten days living on the island. '' Mermaids of Tiburon'' is a 1962 film about a diver looking for buried treasure who comes across mermaids.

Notes

External link

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tiburon Island Hermosillo Islands of Sonora Natural history of Sonora Islands of the Gulf of California Nature reserves in Mexico Protected areas of Sonora Uninhabited islands of Mexico