Although their capacity for resistance and independent decision making have been quite limited, the coastal communities of Baja California have not passively accepted the marginal role in natural resource management, given to them by the federal government. During 1990s several fishing towns in the southern state of the peninsula, Baja California Sur (BCS), have attempted to increase their decision making power by launching community-based conservation initiatives. In August 2000 representatives of nine fishing cooperatives of Puerto San Carlos (PSC) established the Committee for Sea Turtle Protection – the first of its kind in Baja California and in Mexico. While the name of the Committee emphasized protection of an endangered animal, the Committee has also listed sustainable natural resource use, promotion of ecotourism and scientific research, and environmental education as its main goals. This paper evaluates the potential of this new community-based organization (CBO) to mobilize the residents of the community and to increase their decision making power. Since it is currently unclear, what development option the residents of PSC would prefer, this paper does not attempt to make the choice for them, but rather lays out and evaluates several options that became available since the initiation of Escalera Nautica in February 2001.