Contribution To The Study Of Organic Marine Pollution In Bahia De Todos Santos, Baja California

Abstract

ABSTRACIThe effect of organic pollution in the marine environment in one sector of Bahía de Todos Santos, Baja California, was detennined by the analysis of 28 samples of benthos and sediment collected in October 1979 and by the use of the Infaunal Trophic Index (Word, 1978). The Index values varied from 0.00 to 86.22 with a correlation inversely proportional to the organic matter content in the sediments, recording the lowest values in the interior of the Ensenada Harbor. The high contents of organic matter inside the harbor showed two situations: a high infaunal biomass (8.7 to 32.6g/O.lm2) and the anoxic conditions where no macrofaunal traces were obsetved. In general, indexes higher than 60 were recorded in Arroyo El Gallo, where the percentages of volatile solids and biomass did not exceed more than 2.1% and 2.4g/O.lm2, respectively. According to Bascom et al. (1978) the following environmental conditions were detennined: a 'normal' area with indexes from 61 to 86, which included one of the most exposed stations of the harbor and which extended further out than the mouth of the Estero de Punta Banda; a 'changed' area with indexes from 40 to 46, recorded in the center of the harbor, and a 'degraded' area with indexes from 0 to 9, located in the northeastern part of the harbor, in front of tlhe quays.