The Ecological Condition of Veracruz, Mexico Estuaries

Abstract

During June and July, 2002, forty-seven stations were sampled within estuaries along the gulf coast of the state of Veracruz, MX, using a probabilistic survey design and a common set of response indicators. The objective of the study was to collect information to assess the condition of estuarine waters within the state of Veracruz, and to provide data that would strengthen future assessments of Gulf of Mexico estuaries. Samples for water quality, sediment contaminants, sediment toxicity, and benthic populations were collected in a manner consistent with EPA's National Coastal Assessment (NCA). Data were evaluated by comparing indicator measurements to tropical waters threshold values cited in US EPA's National Coastal Condition Report II, 2004, for tropical waters. In Veracruz, 75% of the area sampled rated poor for water quality, attributed primarily to high concentrations reported for chlorophyll a, and dissolved nutrients. One percent of the area exhibited poor sediment quality, based on PAH and metals concentrations. Compared to US estuaries of the Gulf of Mexico, water quality observed in Veracruz estuaries was more affected by nutrient over-enrichment. The probabilitistic nature of the survey design allowed for the comparison of the condition of Veracruz and the US GOM estuaries.

A Spatiotemporal Analysis of Nitrogen Pollution in a Coastal Region with Mangroves of the Southern Gulf of Mexico

“…The alteration of the coast in Veracruz started many years ago, and today human activity is still a growing pressure to the coast [9]. Veracruz estuaries have long been affected by nutrient over-enrichment, which has caused poor water quality [10]. Eutrophic conditions in coastal lagoons have prevailed for at least 30 years, with a significant anthropogenic impact all along the coast as they receive excess nutrients [11].…”

“…Eutrophic conditions in coastal lagoons have prevailed for at least 30 years, with a significant anthropogenic impact all along the coast as they receive excess nutrients [11]. Over 10 years ago, scientists already determined that deforestation and agricultural runoff were significantly contributing to the degradation of coastal waters in Veracruz due to nutrient loads [10]. And yet, there is still an intensification of agriculture, urbanization and other economic activities along the coast [11].…”

A More Cost-Effective Emap Benthic Macrofaunal Sampling Protocol

“…The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initiated the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) in 1990 to develop, test, and validate environmental monitoring methods (U.S. EPA, 1990;Messer et al, 1991). EMAP's field sampling methods (U.S. EPA, 2001a) have been shown to be effective, though not necessarily the most cost effective, on the East and Gulf Coasts of the United States (Summers et al, 1992(Summers et al, , 1995Macauley et al, 1993Macauley et al, , 1999Macauley et al, , 2002Hyland et al, 1998;Paul et al, 1998;Schimmel et al, 1999;Strobel et al, 1999;Summers, 2001). The EMAP-West (EMAP-W) Project, which began in 1999 and will continue through 2005, is being conducted to develop, test, and validate environmental monitoring methods on the West Coast of the United States (Blair, 2001).…”

Assessing coastal waters of American Samoa: territory-wide water quality data provide a critical “big-picture” view for this tropical archipelago

“…Station data were used to calculate a water quality summary (averages, maxima, minima, standard deviations) for the Territory, and station averages were regressed against station depth to evaluate potential spatial gradients. Beyond the basic statistical summary, we further evaluated these data using methods similar to those used for other coastal surveys (e.g., Macauley et al 2002). In this case, data were assessed using the 2005 ASWQS outlined by the American Samoa Code Annotated (ASCA) for the appropriate coastal environments (Table 1).…”

“…The first objective was to conduct a comprehensive survey of water quality indicators in the near-coastal waters of American Samoa. Our survey utilized the probabilistic design approach developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) to survey coastal resources (e.g., Macauley et al 2002). In this design, sample locations are selected randomly within a defined spatial scale in order to produce an unbiased estimate of selected environmental parameters.…”