Through the publication of a report and a collection of signatures, the Oceana organization asks President Claudia Sheinbaum to establish a zone free of oil exploitation with the purpose of protecting marine biodiversity and allowing fishing communities to continue working in the Gulf of Mexico.
“We need a legal mechanism to protect the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico,” said Renata Terrazas, executive director of Oceana in Mexico.
The organization has chosen the category of Safeguard Zone, which is considered in the Hydrocarbons Act as a “reserve area in which the State prohibits hydrocarbon exploration and extraction activities”.
This is included in the report “The Gulf of Mexico Beyond Oil: Proposals for its Protection”, which documents how the hydrocarbon industry has displaced fishing communities in the Southeast due to the pollution it causes in the seas. Mainly, in deep waters, which is an area of interest for transnational corporations.
According to figures presented by the organization, fishing in the Gulf of Mexico supports the income of more than 90,000 families in fishing communities in Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo.
“This economy and fishing abundance, which could be more, are being affected by the oil industry because it displaces fishing... Since 2010, 25% of vessels have been reduced, and the cause of this is hydrocarbon pollution, that is, species run out or flee to other areas,” explained Nancy Gocher, director of Public Policy at Oceana.
Regarding marine life, the report highlights the existence of more than 15,000 species in the Gulf of Mexico, of which 10% are endemic. Species of commercial value such as shrimp, octopus, groupers and lobsters stand out, as well as species in conservation such as turtles, manatees and sperm whales.
Oceana in Mexico also invited the population to sign online the petition addressed to President Sheinbaum to declare the Safeguard Zone, noting that they are maintaining a parallel dialogue with the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources for this purpose.
Comentarios (0)