Sistema Arrecifal Veracruzano

The Parque Nacional Sistema Arrecifal Veracruzano is a marine national park protecting the coral reefs that lie off the coast of Veracruz, Boca del Río and Alvarado. It is made up of two separate groups of reefs: one directly in front of the port of Veracruz, where the nearest reefs are less than 1 km offshore, and a second off Antón Lizardo, about 20 km to the southeast. Between them they hold well over a dozen reefs and half a dozen small islands, among them Isla de Sacrificios, Isla Verde, Isla de En Medio and Santiaguillo. The reefs rise from depths of around 50 m on the continental shelf and are thought to have been growing for about 10,000 years. The park covers roughly 65,500 hectares and is run by CONANP, Mexico's protected-areas commission.

The reefs were decreed a national marine park on 24 August 1992, under President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, after a first proposal in 1975 to protect the La Blanquilla reef. On 2 February 2004 the system was listed as a Ramsar wetland of international importance, and it is also part of UNESCO's network of biosphere reserves. In late 2012, in the last weeks of Felipe Calderón's government, a decree redrew the park's boundary so that the Port of Veracruz could be expanded into the area removed; tens of thousands of coral colonies were relocated for the works and the first phase of the new port opened in 2019. Scientists and environmental lawyers still point to dredging sediment, urban drainage and possible fuel spills from shipping as the main threats to the reefs.

CONABIO counts more than 1,140 species of plants and animals in the park, including elkhorn and staghorn corals, both listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN, five species of sea turtle, and reef fish such as the Veracruz hamlet, Hypoplectrus castroaguirrei. History lies on the seabed too: the waters around the port have been a busy anchorage since the 16th century and are said to hold more than 350 shipwrecks. Isla de Sacrificios was used for pre-Hispanic ceremonies and later served as a colonial ship-repair base and a French naval base during the Pastry War. Dive shops in Veracruz and Boca del Río run boat trips to the reefs and to wreck dives, and from Antón Lizardo boats take snorkellers out to Isla de En Medio.