Dolphin shows and swims in Mexico after the 2025 wildlife-law reform: what is banned and what continues

On July 16, 2025, the evening edition of Mexico's official gazette, the Diario Oficial de la Federación (DOF), published a decree amending the Ley General de Vida Silvestre, the federal wildlife law. Congress had approved it in Mexico City on June 25, and President Claudia Sheinbaum signed it there on July 15. It took effect the next day. The reform changes what visitors can book at dolphinariums and marine parks across Mexico: it bans keeping marine mammals for anything but research, conservation and rescue, ends breeding outside conservation programs, and sets transition rules for the animals already in captivity.

Before the reform, dolphinariums operated under federal permits. On June 18, 2025, a month before it was published, SEMARNAT, the environment ministry, met the organization Empty the Tanks and agreed to share information on the dolphins held in Mexico and to review the permits granted to zoos, aquariums and dolphinariums.

What the reform bans

The rewritten article 60 Bis says no marine mammal may be taken from the wild, except by capture for scientific research aimed at protecting and conserving the species, carried out or endorsed by an officially registered academic or research institution under a protocol authorized by SEMARNAT.

Keeping and using marine mammals for any other activity is banned, with two exceptions: animals bred for conservation, to recover, reintroduce or repopulate threatened or endangered species, and animals rescued and placed by the authorities, not for profit. Breeding is banned except in those conservation programs, and animals destined for reintroduction or repopulation may not be exhibited or used for profit.

Cetaceans must be kept in sea pens, not in concrete installations such as pools and tanks. Where geography makes that impossible, they must stay in open facilities that exchange water with the outside, by tides or by pumping, and in an emergency they must be moved for a time to facilities with no direct link to the sea. The same article also bans the extractive use of any primate.

What continues for animals already held

The transitory articles let facilities keep the animals they have. Owners and holders of marine mammals "bajo cuidado profesional," under professional care, may go on with the activities approved in their management plans before the reform "hasta la baja de los ejemplares," that is, until the animals leave their stock, but may not breed them. They had 90 calendar days from the reform's entry into force to give SEMARNAT an inventory of every animal: species, sex, age, name if any, proof of legal origin, whether a female is pregnant and, for cetaceans, photographs of the pectoral, dorsal and tail fins.

For the cetaceans in those inventories, the only activities allowed are those in which physical contact with people is limited to free swimming and to interactions supervised by a trainer, technician, handler or assistant, without touching the eyes, blowhole or genitals. Riding the animals, swimming while holding on to their fins, having them push participants by the feet, and any other activity that compromises their integrity are banned.

If a calf is born by accident, the owners must pay for its and its mother's care, which cannot bring them profit, directly or indirectly, and must notify SEMARNAT, which decides how mother and calf are managed, including where they go. Owners who think an animal could be released must tell SEMARNAT, so that it can be assessed.

The deadline for sea pens

Owners of cetaceans have up to 18 months after filing their inventory to move the animals to sea pens, or to one of the other cases article 60 Bis allows, following transfer protocols issued by SEMARNAT. The inventories were due in the 90 days after July 17, 2025, when the reform took effect, so no owner's 18-month period can end before January 2027; for an inventory filed on the last day of that window, it runs to mid-April 2027.

Fines

Breaking article 60 Bis is now an infraction under article 122 of the law, with a fine of 200 to 75,000 times the UMA, and it is grounds for revoking the authorization of the wildlife management unit or facility that keeps the animals. INEGI, the national statistics institute, describes the UMA as the economic reference in pesos for setting the amount of payments under federal and state laws.

What has happened since

PROFEPA, the federal environmental enforcement agency, said on October 1, 2026, that in October 2025 it had ordered the total temporary closure of a dolphinarium in Cancún, Quintana Roo, and seized its nine dolphins, over irregularities that included murky water in the pools. The conditions in which the dolphins were kept had improved under the measures it ordered, it said, but its administrative procedure was still under way. Three of the dolphins were unlikely candidates for a transfer because of their health, and a possible transfer of the other six was being considered.

On October 14, 2026, PROFEPA said it was investigating the death on October 1 of Moana, a dolphin at a dolphinarium in Sonora. The necropsy reported trauma, and whether it was linked to a piece of the facility's infrastructure coming loose was under technical and legal review.

If you are planning a visit

• New animals cannot be brought in for shows or swims: the law now allows marine mammals to be kept only for research, conservation breeding and non-profit rescue.
• Facilities may continue the activities approved before July 2025, but only with the animals they already held and within their approved management plans.
• In any encounter with a cetacean already in captivity, riding it, swimming while holding its fins and being pushed by the feet are banned.
• Breeding is banned outside conservation programs, and a calf born by accident cannot be used for profit.