MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The corpses of 128 seals, nine dolphins and nine pelicans washed up on a beach in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico's government said
on Monday.
The government environmental watchdog Profepa said the animals were found over the weekend in the San Jorge bay in the Sea of Cortez, about 60 miles
south of the U.S. border. It launched an investigation of the deaths.
"We are going to maintain a system of permanent vigilance where all of this happened to try to avoid more deaths," Profeca's head, Jose Luis Luege,
said.
It was not clear why the animals died, although local press said environmental authorities were investigating a possible link to drug traffickers' use
of a substance that creates a luminous effect when thrown in the ocean.
The substance is believed to be used to help locate drug shipments that are dumped at sea to be picked up later.
The area is home to some of the largest seal colonies in the Sea of Cortez, which separates the Baja California peninsula from the rest of Mexico.
Last week..
Tucker - 2-24-2004 at 08:14 PM
a young dolphin washed up on the beach(if you can call it that) at El Centenario. I don't think it has been examined, but El Centenario would not be
a normal place for a dolphin to be living.
Tucker
Skeet/Loreto - 2-25-2004 at 06:25 AM
Would you please keep me posted about this! Years ago 18 whales beached themselves on the Beach North of Mulege.
No one ever came up with a reason. I am not sure of the exact location , it has been at least 20 years.
Would be interesting to revisit that occurance.
Anybody on this board that know where to go for research?????
The area of the Sea of Cortez that is described in the news article
Stephanie Jackter - 2-25-2004 at 09:45 AM
is the part of the Sea that is least likely to be able to clean itself of whatever polutant is thrown in. It is at the northern end of the Sea where
the Colorado has now been cut to only a trickle. Anything that's thrown in there, whether it be drug dealers' chemicals or just regular old human
efluence, will build up to toxic levels easily because of the reduction of flow in and out of the area. Actually, the same applies to the El Comitan
area. Not a very naturally self cleansing part of the bahia de La Paz. I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of dead things wash up there. But your
point is well taken, Tucker, that dolphins usually don't like such shallow and warm waters.- StephanieDave - 2-26-2004 at 08:58 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by Anonymous
"We are going to maintain a system of permanent vigilance where all of this happened to try to avoid more deaths," Profeca's head, Jose Luis Luege,
said.
A big, fat lie.
Sounds like the byproduct of the fishing industry.
Sounds more like
jrbaja - 2-26-2004 at 03:18 PM
chemical fertilizers coming out of the Imperial Valley to me. There is actually quite a bit of that water coming into the Sea of Cortez whether Steph
has seen it or not. Look under Rio Hardy and the aqueduct that is just to the west of the actual Boca de Rio Colorado.
The same thing happened to the pearl oysters years ago when that river was actually a river rather than a large irrigation ditch for southern
california.
You could well be right about the fertilizers,
Stephanie Jackter - 2-26-2004 at 04:26 PM
but even if there were chemicals in the water, it would have been diluted 30 years ago by the sheer quantity of water that flowed into the Sea from
the Colorado. The volume of water has been reduced so greatly that whatever pollutants go into the Sea of Cortez benefit little from what used to be
a self cleaning action (flushing, if you like), of lots of water moving in and out of the area. - Stephanie
And on the other side,
jrbaja - 2-27-2004 at 07:42 AM
Many of our guests ask if it is safe to swim in the water at the beach in Rosarito. After having spent many years snorkeling, surfing, etc. in the
waters off of southern california, it is quite obvious the waters south of the border are much healthier than the waters to the north.
This is because most of the pollutants going into the water down here are natural. Tires, trash, turds, etc, seem to have very little effect on the
marine population rather than the lawn fertilizers running through the northern gutters.
I base this decision on my time spent in the water shooting fish in both the U.S. and Mexico.
And Skeet, unfortunately there is a big decline in the fish in the Sea of Cortez as well as the pacific side right now. I have been talking to all
the local fishermen about it and at this time, fishing has been pretty pathetic. Winds I am sure play a major role but in general, the locals are
getting more worried every year. Tragic!
