Environmental Outlook for the Tres Palos Lagoon, Municipality of Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico

Abstract

The Tres Palos lagoon in Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico, is a shallow inland water body that, in addition to the biodiversity it contains and the ecological benefits it generates, serves as sustenance for the surrounding towns. Currently, water pollution affects economic activities such as fishing and tourism. The objective was to construct a physical and socio-economic characterization of the Tres Palos Lagoon for a complexity analysis of the problem and its prospective in fishing activity. Four stages were developed: recognition of the Lagoon, environmental and socioeconomic characterization, analysis of the problem and evaluation of time series for fishing activity; marine probe, GPS, thermometer and laboratory equipment were used; statistical processing was done in Excel, Minitab and cartographic in ArcGis. Poverty is a general condition along the communities studied. The main economic activities are fishing, agriculture and tourism. As a result of the chemical analysis three zones were identified: the limits with Río de la Sabana, which is shallow and presents the greatest turbidity with the entrance of sewage water and solid waste; the north zone presents a greater current, so the salinity is low, as well as the average temperature; and the southern zone, with a lower degree of eutrophication and greater vegetation presents high conductivity depending on salinity. The environmental problem is exacerbated by mangrove deforestation, dusting and overfishing; The waters discharged by the Río de la Sabana represent the main source of pollution in the lagoon. The future of fishing production is uncertain, species of greater commercial value such as robalo (centropomus nigriscens) is declining, while more resistant species such as tilapia (oreochromis niloticus) is produced in aquaculture farms will increase. It is concluded that there is conflict between actors and weakness of the institutions in the fulfillment of policies; the Laguna de Tres Palos requires efficient environmental governance.