This issue's cover image depicts several members of the whale-watching cooperative in Magdalena Bay, Baja California. The cooperative was formed in the late 1980s by local fisherman who wanted both to defuse local tensions over competition for tourist dollars and to tap into the growing local ecotourism market in a more effective way. There are about 35 members of the cooperative, who work as local tour guides for outside companies bringing tourist groups into the area. Here, they pose on the beach with the jawbone of a gray whale.

This picture's copyright holder is Serge Dedina. More images and information about gray whale tourism in Baja California can be found in this issue's "Ecotourism and the desert whale: An interview with Dr. Emily Young."