For nearly two decades, Alejandro González has stood on the front lines of marine conservation in Mexico, from the coral-fringed reefs of Cabo Pulmo to the remote volcanic outposts of the Revillagigedo Archipelago. A biologist by training and a park director by trade, González has built a career navigating the tension between ambition and reality—between vast declarations on paper and the gritty, day-to-day work of enforcement at sea.
“I fell in love with nature early on,” González says. “But as I studied more, I began to understand the ocean’s broader role in our lives… The more you understand the ocean, the more you realize how central it is to life on Earth.”
That realization would shape a trajectory that took him from a coastal resource advisor in Quintana Roo to leadership roles in three of Mexico’s most iconic marine protected areas (MPAs), culminating in his directorship of Revillagigedo National Park—the largest in the country, covering over 15 million hectares of ocean.
Revillagigedo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located hundreds of kilometers offshore, presented unusual challenges.
“It was a very particular case,” González recalls. “In Mexico, we don’t have many oceanic national parks.”
Isolated and under naval jurisdiction, operating in the archipelago required diplomacy as much as logistics. Establishing trust with the Mexican Navy was essential to enable joint enforcement, especially to curb illegal fishing and safeguard the park’s fragile ecosystems.
González’s tenure there was not limited to paperwork and meetings. He spent weeks aboard liveaboard vessels, patrolling the islands, monitoring biodiversity, and collaborating with tourist operators and NGOs on projects like the eradication of invasive species.
“You never really stopped working,” he says. “Our daily routines followed a military-style schedule.”
Today, González serves as the Director for Global Conservation in Mexico, where he’s helping to build a more resilient future for MPAs across the country. His focus has shifted from direct management to systemic support: securing financial continuity for park operations, deploying Marine Monitor (M2) radar systems, and helping government agencies modernize enforcement through Global Park Defense, a strategy that pairs technology with capacity-building.
One of the initiative’s current focal points is the Islas Marías Biosphere Reserve, a sprawling no-take zone off the coast of Nayarit plagued by illegal fishing.
With partners like Pronatura Noroeste and CONANP, Global Conservation is strengthening marine protection through patrols, radar surveillance, and data standardization.
Still, González remains grounded in the communities that depend on these waters.
“In Baja, cartels are gaining control over fisheries, influencing pricing and distribution. That’s a serious threat.” he says, citing a growing challenge in Baja California. “We need to show that conservation and economic well-being can go hand in hand.”
What keeps him going is the hope that his young son might one day experience the ocean as he once did.
“That’s what drives me,” he says. “That my colleagues and I can achieve the goal of conserving the sea over the next 50 years—not just for scientists, or tourists, but for the people who call it home.”
