Playa del Carmen Bull Shark Photographs Selected for National Conservation Exhibition

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Quintana Roo — Two underwater photographs of bull sharks taken off Playa del Carmen have been selected as finalists in the seventh Mosaico Natura México competition, bringing one of the Riviera Maya’s most distinctive seasonal visitors to a national audience.

The images were submitted by members of Baálche Photography, the team formed by underwater photographers and shark conservation advocates Cecilia Gutiérrez and Mizael Palomeque.

Both photographs will appear in “Visions of Our Nature VII,” an outdoor exhibition planned for Chapultepec Park in Mexico City. The winning images are scheduled to be announced in September.

Organized by Mexico’s National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity, or CONABIO, Mosaico Natura is a national competition devoted to Mexico’s wildlife, plants, fungi, landscapes and relationships between people and nature.

Entries are evaluated for artistic merit, originality, technique and the difficulty involved in photographing the species or environment. The 2026 competition accepted submissions from April 24 through July 5.

Photography supports shark research

Gutiérrez said the selected images were intended to show bull sharks as part of a functioning marine environment rather than as the threatening figures often presented in popular culture.

For Baálche, underwater photography is closely connected with research and public education. The team participates in a community-science project that photographs and identifies individual bull sharks returning to the Playa del Carmen area.

Distinctive markings, scars and fin shapes allow researchers to recognize animals in subsequent seasons. Those records can help document return patterns, the size and composition of the seasonal group and changes observed over time.

Gutiérrez holds a master’s degree in natural-resource management and is director of Baálche Proyecto Azul. Palomeque, an attorney with a master’s degree in environmental law, has also received recognition in national and international nature-photography competitions. The husband-and-wife team conducts underwater photography workshops tied to shark monitoring and conservation.

Playa del Carmen’s seasonal visitors

Bull sharks, Carcharhinus leucas, are found in tropical and subtropical coastal waters around the world. The species can tolerate both saltwater and freshwater, but the animals photographed off Playa del Carmen are part of a seasonal marine aggregation.

Female bull sharks, many in advanced stages of pregnancy, generally begin appearing off the coast in November and remain through the winter. Local monitoring has documented some individuals returning repeatedly over a number of years.

The season also supports a specialized diving industry. Municipal officials estimate that approximately 30,000 visitors come to the region each year for the opportunity to observe bull sharks, creating income for dive operators, instructors, boat crews and other tourism workers.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies the bull shark as vulnerable globally. Its coastal habitat brings it into frequent contact with fishing activity, pollution and the loss or degradation of nursery areas.

National recognition grows

The selection comes as Playa del Carmen is working to make the bull shark a more visible part of the city’s environmental and tourism identity.

In May, Quintana Roo submitted a request to the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property for protection of the name “Tiburón Toro de Playa del Carmen” as a geographical indication. The application was published in the Federal Official Gazette on May 29.

The proposal remains an application rather than a completed designation. If approved, it would establish standards for tourism services operating under the protected name and distinguish participating operators who comply with the agreed rules.

The two Mosaico Natura photographs will carry that local story well beyond the Caribbean coast. Visitors to the Chapultepec exhibition will see the sharks where local photographers encounter them: underwater, in their natural environment and within sight of one of Mexico’s busiest tourism destinations.