The Organization of Fishermen Rescuing the Inlet (OPRE) y NOS Sustainable Northwest are preparing a second seabed cleanup in the La Paz inlet to remove the debris that may have arrived after the passage of the hurricane Norma.

Guillermo Méndez CamachoNOS coordinator and OPRE member, said that they have already done some monitoring dives and the surprise they got is that there is little garbage in the seabedHowever, it should be removed to prevent it from accumulating.

"There is not so much garbage, which surprised us a lot, because we looked in the places where there is more garbage, for example there by the Fidepaz, by Las Posadas, and there is no garbage, there is very little," he said.

This second cleaning of the seabed is already being planned, which is why they did the monitoring dives, but it will not be in these last days of the year, but until the beginning of 2024, he said.

Méndez Camacho recalled that in the first seabed cleanup that they conducted in the La Paz inlet More than 30 people participated and extracted more than 32 tons of waste that were contaminating this ecosystem.

"We found a lot of beer bottles, soda bottles, different things, a lot of tires, a lot of boat piles, we found a lot of huge piles of boats, even boat engines. It was a huge mess," he said.

Stranded and sunken ships are a hazard

The coordinator of NOS said that after the passage of Hurricane Norma, a total of 44 boats have been stranded on the shore of the La Paz inletIn addition, there are 7 other submerged vessels from earlier times on the seabed. All of them represent a contamination risk due to the fuel they may spill.

"It is an enormous risk that they represent, even a few days after Hurricane Norma, we went around and did the first monitoring of the stranded ships and there was some fuel spilled in the water, you could see the oil cream dented and dissolved or I don't know what happened, but we no longer saw it," he said.

In addition to the stranded and sunken vessels, he said there are another 75 at anchor, which are those that enter and leave making use of the inlet.

"Regarding the sunken ships, we are looking for a way to see if the Port Captaincy or the Navy will remove them, I don't know who will get them, because they always pollute," he said.

Caring for water quality

For fishermen who take advantage of the resources of the La Paz inlet It is very important to keep this ecosystem clean, because it is the source of their livelihood, and that is why they worry about keeping it clean.

A very important point is to take care of the water quality of this inlet, so Cofepris performs monthly monitoring that is recorded for a certification process.

"We have one last analysis to do, because there are 30 that we have to do for a water certificate, they always inform us of the result and they have come out well," he commented.

In addition, he added, analyses have also been carried out on products such as scallops and oysters from the cove and they have also come out without problems, so the cleanup is aimed at maintaining this quality status.

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