Greenpeace Mexico, the environmental organization, called on Monday to protect reef ecosystems it discovered more than 160 feet deep in the northern Mexican state of Veracruz.
It is worth mentioning that it is planned to build a gas pipeline that will start in Texas, so the organization seeks to protect that ecosystem discovered in the Gulf of Mexico.
“We have documented new reef ecosystems never seen or studied before, since such a depth had not been reached in the sea in the area. As a result of this, we know that management plans, actions and conservation tools are required,” the organization said in a statement.
The finding was part of the investigation aboard Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise in the Gulf of Mexico, the organization said in the statement.
Among the main discoveries, there is a reef at a depth of 70 meters (229 feet) more than 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) offshore from the mouth of the Tecolutla River, where several species of reef fish were observed.
“Reef structures were also detected at depths of more than 50 meters, in which fish, squid, starfish, sponges, whip corals, soft corals and at least one species of scleractinian coral, that is, hard coral,” were observed. add the statement.
According to the investigation, the organization specified, it was possible to observe that the reef ecosystems in the north of the state are further from the coast and at less depth.
“Today more than ever it is important to protect these reef ecosystems, since they provide protection to the coasts and are the refuge of different species, many of them of commercial value, which allows the subsistence of the fishing communities of Veracruz,” Viridiana Lázaro wrote. , coordinator of the investigation of Greenpeace Mexico.
The investigation was concentrated in the north of the state, near the municipalities of Tamiahua-Tecolutla, and in which, in addition to Greenpeace, academics from the Faculty of Biological and Agricultural Sciences of the Universidad Veracruzana and the Interdisciplinary Collective of Applied Science and Environmental law.
According to the organization, the final results of the investigation will be presented in September 2023.
Greenpeace Mexico also denounced the upcoming construction of the Puerta del Sureste gas pipeline, which aims to carry gas from Texas, United States, to Tuxpan, Coatzacoalcos and Dos Bocas, bordering the Veracruz coast in the Gulf of Mexico.
The organization warned that this puts protected reef ecosystems in “serious danger” and those that still do not have that protection, for which reason it called on the Energy and Environment Security Agency (ASEA) not to approve the construction of this project.
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