Date: Wed, 19 Feb 97 11:56:00 GMT
From: r.mallon1@genie.com
To: marmam@uvvm.uvic.ca, pita@whale.simmons.edu
Subject: Mexico declares emergency in whale, dolphin deaths
MEXICO CITY, Feb 18 (Reuter) - Mexican environmental officials
said on Tuesday they have declared an environmental emergency
due to the deaths of whales and dolphins in the Gulf of California.
Authorities in northern Sinaloa state suspect the marine mammals
may be dying from a chemical dumped in the sea by drug traffickers.
The chemical, known as NK-19, is used to mark drug loads for nighttime
detection from the air by other drugÿtraffickers. "This
takes effect within an environmental emergency scheme," Luis
Fuello of the Environment Ministry's prosecuting office in Culiacan,
Sinaloa, told the television news programme 24 Hours. "This
type of process is very rare." He did not provide statistics
of the number of marine mammal deaths but called them "massive."
Under the emergency plan, a special team of scientists will be
assembled to study the cause of death. ÿThe Gulf of California,
also known as the Sea of Cortes, is the body of water between
the Baja California peninsula and the Mexican mainland. Culiacan
is at the southern end of the gulf on the mainland side. The
gulf is rich in diverse marine life and is a main corridor for
cocaine and other drug shipments destined for the United States.
Workers for the city ofÿCuliacan on Sunday buried six whales
and five dolphins that had washed ashore over the weekend, the
Mexico City newspaper Excelsior reported. They avoided burning
the dead animals so that scientists could study them, theÿnewspaper
said.
Subject: Dolphin Death:Mexico-Dolphin Deaths (fwd)
Michael Williamson (pita@whale.simmons.edu)
Fri, 11 Apr 1997 14:30:59 -0400 (EDT)
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Environmental authorities said Monday that
162 dolphins found dead on Gulf of California beaches earlier
this year died from red tide, a naturally occurring toxic algae.
Investigators in the northern state of Sinaloa said they have
largely discounted hypotheses that toxic wastes or chemical markers
used by drug traffickers could have caused the deaths. "It
can now be affirmed that the deaths were not caused by a spill
of toxic substances," the Sinaloa Committee for Natural Resource
Emergencies said in a report published by the Mexico City daily
Reforma. The report says the dolphins, four whales and one sea
lion, found dead in January and February, probably swam through
a red-tide bloom in the open ocean, with their bodies washing
ashore near the state capital of Culiacan. The Sinaloa coast is
a main route for drug traffickers, who occasionally drop shipments
at sea and mark them with a phosphorescent, cyanide-based chemical.
Final results of an investigation should be available within two
weeks.