Friday, July 18, 2025

Biologist urges monitoring of Tamaulipas river water quality

A Tamaulipas biologist is calling on the state and federal governments to study the effects of pollution on fish in the Pánuco river, particularly in the Pueblo Viejo lagoon in Veracruz.

“We need to do daily monitoring at the entrance to the Pueblo Viejo lagoon,” said Margarita Vergara de los Ríos, former director of the Regional Center for Fishing Studies (CRIP) for southern Tamaulipas.

Vergara also said that the dumping of wastewater into the Pánuco river should stop, noting a recent mass death of thousands of catfish in a Tampico canal connected to the Pánuco. Tampico officials said the die-off was probably caused by a lack of oxygen or a change in the water’s salinity, but Vergara thinks it could have been caused by pollution.

“I haven’t been able to take samples, but I would say that, if this had happened in a period when there was more serious runoff, we could attribute it to salinity changes or a lack of oxygen in the water,” she said. “However, it’s very possible that it was caused by a spill into the Pánuco river, upstream or downstream, or the illegal dumping that happens around the Carpintero lagoon, because a few weeks ago there were also a lot of fish deaths upstream in the Pánuco.”

Vergara added that if the pollution problem is not addressed, it could damage area fisheries like Pueblo Viejo.

“It’s very important that agencies like the National Water Commission, the Health Secretariat and the CRIP monitor the Pánuco near the entrance to the Pueblo Viejo lagoon in Veracruz in order to prevent harm to people who live from fishing there,” she said.

Pueblo Viejo oyster fishermen who spoke with the newspaper Milenio said that Tamaulipas and Veracruz authorities have gone to the lagoon to take water samples, but that they have not revealed the results. Fishermen fear that the government will impose a ban on fishing in the lagoon because of the pollution.

According to environmental activist Roque Montiel Lozano, at least 600 cubic meters of wastewater are dumped into the Pánuco every second.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
A man stands by an open suitcase in an airport revision area

Foreign national caught with over a million pesos of ketamine in Cancún airport

0
Officials confiscated 2 kilograms of ketamine, a controlled substance in Mexico.
two people walkin gby a for rent sign

Can rent control stop gentrification? Mexico City officials plan to find out

9
Political leaders in the nation's capital have reached into their anti-gentrification toolkit and come up with an approach that goes straight to the heart of the problem.
cell phone with Uber

Mexican authorities slam Uber’s price hike: ‘Unilateral and irresponsible’

2
The ride-hailing app insists that the rise is necessary after recent labor reforms gave its drivers full employee rights, including IMSS membership.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity