The purpose of this expedition will be to return to one site (Champoton) where I saw considerable oil/tar in August 1980 on the limestone rocky shoreline and then to go to the fishing village of Isla Arenas north of Campeche, Campeche, to look at the mangrove community and mangrove oysters that purportedly were both impacted by Ixtoc oil. Since there were no studies in that area, we will only gain anecdotal information, but it may help in understanding the wider impact from the Ixtoc spill in this very sensitive area that is the tropical counterpart to the salt marshes of the Mississippi Delta now being impacted by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the northern Gulf of Mexico. We will interview fishermen and other coastal residents in Champoton, Campeche, Isla Arenas, and Celestun, all on the western side of the Yucatan Peninsula.
My long-time friend and colleague Julio Sanchez from EPOMEX at the University of Campeche will accompany me during the first two days (5-6 July) of this expedition, and I will have two writers along to document the trip. More about them when we hit the field next week.
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