The Hazards of Monitoring Ecosystem Ocean Health in the Gulf of Mexico: A Mexican Perspective

Abstract

Ecological services provided by the Gulf of Mexico constitute vital assets for the socioeconomic development of the USA, Mexico, and Cuba. This ecosystem houses vast biodiversity and significant fossil fuel reserves. However, its ecological stability and resilience have been jeopardized by anthropogenic disturbances. Massive oil spills (Ixtoc-I, 1979; Deepwater Horizon, 2010) caused severe environmental injuries and unveiled the vulnerability of coastal and deep-sea habitats. Baseline and monitoring studies are actions implemented by the Gulf stakeholders to cope with such disturbances. The 3-year monitoring program implemented by Mexico in 2010 to assess the environmental damage caused by the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) event confirmed the void of knowledge on the complexity of physical and biological processes susceptible of being altered by oil spills. Between the pelagic and benthic compartments, the latter proved to be a better option in establishing the baseline concentration and trends of oil compounds. Surficial sediments exhibited an increasing concentration trend of PAH, AH, and trace metals throughout the 3-year monitoring. The macroinfauna and selected biomarkers experienced interannual variability attributed to critical hydrocarbon and trace metal thresholds. Sediment toxicity bioassays added support to the distribution and potential sources of oil contaminants dispersed from the northern gulf toward Mexican waters.

Pre-evaluation of contaminated soil for oil field reactivation in Moloacan, Veracruz, Mexico

“…Ukpaka et al (2020) and Gomez-Mellado et al (2020) mention that produced water and drilling cuttings can contribute to the presence of EC in soils contaminated with hydrocarbons, both studies also agree with the results of Botello et al (2019) and Ziarati et al (2019) who add the presence of heavy metals in low areas and sediments of oil spills, of which Reyes et al (2016) have emphasized their effects on health. Also, other studies have observed effects from 0.02 eq L −1 of Na (from the extract of the saturated pasta), since the study area has a vocation for agricultural use, it is necessary to establish pastures and vegetables that can be tolerant to this indicator (Soto et al, 2018;Mendoza-Carranza et al, 2016).…”

“…Due to these low concentrations, some of these sites have been declared below the permissible limits, but in some cases, environmental problems persist affecting the growth and development of plants (Sánchez et al, 2017;Challenger et al, 2018). Hence, Soto et al (2018) and González-Mille et al (2019) highlight the importance of considering methods of identification of these components since they relate them to negative effects on water potential, density, and porosity of the soil.…”

Oil Spill Damage to a Large Marine Ecosystem: The Gulf of Mexico (GoM)

“…The economic damages inflicted by the massive oil spill on the general ecological services provided by the GoM to bordering countries like Mexico remain unsettled. In spite of international treaties acknowledged by the two countries, compensatory economic damages to the USA waters by BP amounted to $16.67US billion whereas in the case of Mexico's EZZ, BP did not admit any damage and approved compensatory funds ($1.2US million) to cover for Mexico's emergency monitoring procedures conducted at the outset of the DWH event [9,10].…”