Pollution Issues in Coastal Lagoons in the Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

The coastline of the Mexican Gulf of Mexico is an area of paramount importance. It poses valuable biological and ecological resources such as coastal lagoons, rivers, estuaries, wetlands and swamps. It poses 206 coastal systems including 73 coastal lagoons with high biological richness. Their study shows the physicochemical characteristics and pollution levels into the four more productive lagoons of Tampamachoco, Mandinga, Alvarado in the Veracruz state and Terminos Lagoon in Campeche state, México, have the present characteristics. The lagoons show a wide interval in physiochemical parameters (temperature: 18-32°C, salinity: 11-38 ups, and nutrients: oxygen 1.8-9.0 mg/L, total phosphorus 2.6-123 μM total nitrogen 5-70 μM, and chlorophyll 10-50 mg/m 3). All of them oscillated between normal to eutrophication condition. The presence of PAHs and some of the high toxicity as anthracene, and chrysene, as well as naphthalene and its methyl derivatives has been reported. Also, chlorinated hydrocarbons used for agriculture purposes and malaria control (DDT, lindane, endosulfan) have been identified in these lagoons. Metals as Cr, Pb, Ni, Cd, and V among others were recently reported in the lagoons considered in this study. Concentrations of pollutants also show significant variations depending on the time and the type of lagoon, or estuary.

Lobomycosis-like disease epidemiology, pathology and social affiliations in bottlenose dolphins from Southwestern Gulf of Mexico

“…Weather variability follows a tropical pattern with three periods: rainy (July-October), windy (November-February), and dry season (March-June) (Bolaños-Jimeńez et al, 2022) that provide a variable influx of organic material discharged from the continent to the sea that, in addition to tidal exchange, produce important differences in salinity and temperature (Morań-Silva et al, 2005). Rivers and lagoons sustain local patches of mangrove habitats, where marine sediments and water contain traces of organochlorine pesticides that affect water quality and are toxic to marine species (Vaźquez-Botello et al, 2019). Also, artisanal riverine fishing is one of the most important commercial activities carried out all year in the area and antagonistic interactions with T. truncatus are frequently recorded (Rechimont et al, 2018;Morales-Rincon et al, 2019).…”