Mangrove and estuaries damage continues in Urías and El Infiernillo in Mazatlan

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Invasions affect the ecosystem of wetlands and species protected by environmental legislation

Mazatlan, Sinaloa. Neither the criminal complaints filed in 2014, 2016 and 2018 by Profepa against those responsible for the detention of three people in the last four years, has stopped the invasions, “ant” fillings and affectations in mangrove swamps Uriah and The Infiernillo. On the contrary, the damage continues, contributing to the drying of wetlands, the loss of vegetation cover and the gradual elimination of the ecosystem and species protected by environmental legislation.

In a tour made by El Sol de Mazatlan, it was found that the landfill to gain land to the sea and build rustic houses or, in some cases, material, advances in areas of the estuary of Urías and El Infiernillo, populated by black and white mangrove or ash, species included in the Official Mexican Standard NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010, with category of threatened.

Not only are wetlands damaged, but water is also blocked, increasing the risk of flooding in the rainy season in irregular settlements.

Rellenos sobre la calle Tres Palmas, de la colonia Quinta Chapalita, con tierra, escombro y piedra de construcción.

This is observed in the colonies Quinta Chapalita, Casa Redonda and the invasion of Juan Pablo II. In the first case, a stone filling for construction was observed on the mangrove, which was thrown by two trucks three days ago, according to local residents.

The Federal Penal Code establishes 6 months to 9 years in prison for those who dismantle or destroy natural vegetation or damage a specimen of flora and wild fauna species, in addition to the economic penalty with the aggravating circumstance that the mangrove is protected by the federal environmental normativity.

It also indicates that a penalty of 2 to 10 years in prison and 300 to 3 thousand days of fine will be imposed on anyone who damages, drains or fills wetlands, mangroves, lagoons or estuaries, based on the General Law of Wildlife that prohibits the removal, filling, transplant, pruning or any work or activity that affects the integrity of mangrove hydrological flow.

In spite of this, in the street Rosarito Beach of the colony, Casa Redonda is still filled with rubble and garbage on the mangrove wetland, where rustic houses of sticks, wood, cardboard sheets, and plastics are built.

Neighbors of the place indicate that they are areas that during the rainy season are flooded with water from the estuary by the tides and the volume of water from the rains, but people do not understand and continue to fill in order to place their houses at a higher level.

In the Quinta Chapalita the mangrove is destroyed to fill and extend lands towards the Urías estuary.

Roberto “N”, who works leveling one of the lands near the landfills, assures that more will last building houses than collapsing due to lack of firm foundations since the tide rises in rainy seasons higher than the level of the rubble that they are putting and where they are building.

He complained about the trash thrown into the wetlands, not only on Rosarito Street but also by San José del Cabo, Puerto Peñasco and Adolfo López Mateos, which adjoin the train tracks and hit the Urías stream.

It is a cochinero “pigsty” that they throw every day on the banks of the estuary, and when it rains the tide takes them, they are polluting and nobody does anything

Roberto “N”

COMPLAINTS COMPLAINED AND DETAINED

The most recent complaint was filed by the Federal Office of Environmental Protection (Profepa) on May 2018, when it detected invasions, “ant” fillings and the affectation of more than 1,100 square meters of mangrove in seven estates of Estero de Urías, located in the Casa Redonda colony, where it was found rustic constructions made with wood, sheet and cloth, and a berth of smaller boats.

When not finding inhabitants or people in those properties, proceeded to file a criminal complaint with the Public Ministry of the Federation, for the commission of environmental crimes, against who is responsible.

Inspectors of Profepa detected in the Casa Redonda neighborhood, in an alley of Playa Rosarito Street, the extension of a landfill over the mangrove wetland, with rubble material, mainly trash, cardboard, wood and plastic, in an area of ​​300 meters square, as well as the irregular occupation of three lots, which have rustic constructions made of wood and sheet.

In a statement released by Profepa, on May 13 of last year, it is indicated that the advance of landfills continues to gain land to the sea, which affects the existing mangrove population in the area visited by the Casa Redonda colony. , represented mainly by black or ash mangrove, with cuts of specimens of the species Avicennia germinans.

Trash thrown on the Urías estuary, in the Quinta Chapalita colony

Also, in that same settlement, on Rosarito Street, an “ant” type filler was detected, with rubble material in a mangrove area, on an area of ​​816 square meters.

In addition to that in four lots, there were rustic buildings made of wood, sheet, and cloth, one of them had a berth of smaller boats, with earth and rubble material; in one of the lots, only the filling with rubble was observed.

It is clarified in the bulletin that as the landfill progresses, constructions have been built that contribute to the drying of the wetland and the loss of coverage of the mangrove vegetation, with the consequent gradual elimination of the wetland ecosystem and species protected by legislation. environmental such as black mangrove or ash and white mangrove, species listed in the Official Mexican Standard NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010, with category of threatened.

It should be noted that in 2014 and 2016, Profepa filed criminal complaints with the then PGR for similar acts and in the same area denounced.

In the last five years, only three people have been detained casually. Two of them, for throwing rubble in the colony Casa Redonda in March 2016, after a report made by the ex regidores Esperanza Kazuga and Humberto Becerra, during a tour of this urban sector.

The other detainee was an employee of a company that manufactures marble, which was surprised on July 13, 2017, throwing rubble with a backhoe in the estuary of Urías, in La Quinta Chapalita.

‘THE BALL IS PASSED ON WHOS RESPONSIBLE’

Members of the Ecological Council of Mazatlan, including its president, Martín Alejandro Guerrero Ibarra, spokesman Sergio Valle and the former president of CEMAZ, Ángel García Contreras, have criticized the federal, state and municipal governments on multiple occasions for their passive attitude towards the growth of the invasion of Avenida Juan Pablo II, on landfills in the El Infiernillo estuary.

They are surprised that there is no complaint against the squatters in what pertains to the Law of Civil Protection, for being in areas of high risk of flooding, or by federal environmental regulations, including the General Law of Wildlife that prohibits the stuffing that affects the mangrove.

The invasion that is before reaching the Juarez bridge (on Juan Pablo II avenue), everything is done by political interests, the same governments, because they are in a high-risk zone, they let them invade there and settle, and both they throw the ball, that the state government, the federal or the municipal, which are federal areas, that we can not get our hands, and so they take it, everything is in the interests of those in power

Guerrero Ibarra

Meanwhile, Sergio Valle accused the previous administrations of having allowed the invasion of the El Infiernillo estuary and its extension.

human beings could not be allowed to inhabit such flooding areas as the El Infiernillo estuary, less to encourage the expansion of the invasion, and that is a responsibility of past administrations that they allowed and encouraged based on electoral politics, political clientelism, put in anxiety and attack against nature

Sergio Valle

Fernando “N” is originally from Puerto Madero, Chiapas, but he has lived in Mazatlan for six years. He says that he paid rent in that time until a relative invited him a year and a half ago to join the invasion of Juan Pablo II, on the shores of the El Infiernillo estuary.

He, like 44 other families, built his house with sticks, wood, cardboard, almost all gifts, including the filling, which, he assures, was also a gift from the same people who arrived with rubble removed from the houses and He was giving away to level his lands of 5 meters wide by 15 meters long.

In this small plot of land, he has his house made of wood and sheet, where he planted banana trees, guava, guanabana, dwarf coconuts, and nopales.

He says that they have negotiated with Jumapam and the CFE to obtain water and light with collective shots, waiting for their lands to be regularized very soon.

He points out that the only thing that Civil Protection and Semarnat have asked for is that they do not damage the mangroves or keep filling up; However, despite the care, there are people who come and throw the rubble.

Rubble is thrown on the side of the berth of the Quinta Chapalita colony.

And although there are traces of recent rubble, he insists: “They stopped the halt to those who throw the rubble, they are private, it is rubble that they remove from the houses”.

Don Fernando and two other local residents clarified that the last houses on the side of the Juarez bridge that is being evacuated is because Semarnat told them that it is the passage of rainwater into the estuary.

DAMAGES AND AFFECTIONS

Wetlands are a natural water filter that helps recharge water tables, as well as being a refuge for a wide variety of endemic and migratory wildlife, and a carrier of a large number of nutrients for birds, fish, reptiles, and mammals.

The mangrove zone also acts as a natural barrier against possible floods in the rainy season, a function that is affected by landfills, which cause the decrease of the ebb and flow of the ecosystem, as well as the decrease in the rainwater regulating vessel. there they are deposited, and they put at risk the population that is in the contiguous areas, in time of cyclones and hurricanes.

This is the case of the residents of Tres Palmas street, in the Quinta Chapalita neighborhood, where for days they have been filling with soil on the mangrove of the Urías estuary, and three days ago, two gondola-type trucks emptied construction stone, that obstructs the passage of rainwater to the estuary.

Jorge “N” and other neighbors pointed out that not only are they obstructing the passage of water, but they are also cutting the mangrove to fill the estuary and gain land to the sea.

the other day put that rubble there, the bad thing is that they are covering the street, and the fall of water, the water will not be able to come out and it will flood us; They are also making a mangrove dump and they already covered us the water outlet, if it rains they will flood us, they have days that they are filling, but those stones were no their the other day, another land was already filled

Jorge “N”

DATA

  • 1,100 square meters of mangrove in seven farms of Estero de Urías were detected with damage by Profepa in 2018.
  • 3 people have been arrested for throwing rubble and filling the Urías estuary in the last 4 years.
  • From 6 months to 9 years in prison is the punishment for anyone who disassembles or destroys natural vegetation.
  • From 1 to 9 years in prison is the sanction for the one that damages any specimen of the wild flora or fauna species, in addition to the economic penalty, with the aggravating circumstance that the mangrove is protected by federal environmental regulations.

WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?

  • Removal, filling, transplant, pruning, or any work or activity that affects the integrity of mangrove hydrological flow is prohibited.
  • He will be the creditor of 2 to 10 years in prison and 300 to 3 thousand days of fines, who illicitly damage, dry or fill wetlands, mangroves, lagoons or estuaries.

SOURCE : Federal Penal Code, article 420 Bis, fraction I. General Wildlife Law.

PROTECTED MANGLE

  • The Official Mexican Standard NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010 maintains as protected species with category of threatened, the black or ash mangrove (Avicennia germinans) and the white mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa) found in the estuaries of Urías and El Infiernillo.

Source: el sol de mazatlan

The Mazatlan Post