Ecobreves – MEXICO: War against Red Tide

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

MEXICO CITY, Jun 30 2002 (IPS) - – The Metropolitan Autonomous University of Mexico is ready to study the micro-algae that cause “red tide”, an unpredictable phenomenon that causes fish kills and can make people ill who consume seafood coming from affected areas. These tides are red due to the sporadic but massive concentration of single-cell microorganisms on the water surface.

Within five years, researchers working at 10 different points along Mexico's Pacific coast hope to produce an atlas of the areas where the phenomenon occurs, its behavior and mechanisms to prevent it.