San Miguel Rivermouth. Photo: Gina Sinotte
The Mexican government has acknowledged surfers’ protests against the proposed expansion of Ensenada’s ports. In response to concerns that the project would destroy several surf spots, officials proposed a 20-million peso (USD $1.06 million) investment in a coastal walkway park at the cobblestone point of San Miguel. Opposition leaders, however, remain unimpressed.
The controversy stems from a 5.7 billion peso (USD $276 million) plan to increase the size of both ports in Ensenada. The expansion calls for a roughly one-mile-long breakwater to be built parallel to the popular surf spot Tres Emes, among others, to make Ensenada’s El Sauzal port large enough to receive container ships. Locals say that San Miguel, Ensenada’s renowned cobblestone point, would also be harmed.
In a presidential press conference on July 23, the Secretary of the Mexican Navy, Raymundo Morales Ángeles, gave updates on the project. His presentation included renderings of a park at San Miguel with a long, single walkway lined by palm trees, claiming it would create “better conditions for surfing.”
Showing a lack of understanding of how surf spots work, he also said that the port expansion “is moving the waves towards the north.”
Opposition groups took exception to the peace offering.
“We consider it a mockery…to propose, as a compensation measure for the surfing community, filling San Miguel Beach with wood and palm trees in anticipation of the construction of a mega-industrial port in El Sauzal,” the environmental activist group Nosotras y el Mar said on Instagram.
The group claims the plans were ignorantly created because the park would be in a high-tide zone and destroy coastal bird habitat.
“For the surfing community, this measure represents no compensation: the wave at San Miguel will also disappear, as will Tres Emes and Frijolitos, which would be filled with concrete,” they added.
Another opposition group, Ensenada Digna, published a statement saying that the coastal walkway park is not a compromise. “We demand that President Claudia Sheinbaum keep her promise to meet with us and listen to the people of Ensenada,” the statement says.
During the conference, Morales Ángeles emphasized that the project depends on local stakeholder agreement and environmental impact studies. President Sheinbaum even interrupted to ensure he mentioned their plans to consult the local community. Yet more than eight months after the port expansion was announced in December 2024, the plans remain unchanged, despite ongoing opposition from local surfers and environmental groups.
