In only 20 days were found more than four thousand dead pelicans

Tuesday, May 8, 2012 | 4:00 a.m.

Pollution. Abounds in turkeys away but there is a red flag as a warning.
 In the Peruvian coast. Most birds have perished on the beaches of Lima, Trujillo, Chiclayo and Casma. Experts say this is due to the lack of anchovies, their only food, and a picture of parasitosis caused by malnutrition. Digesa calls pelicans bodies are cremated and buried.
Eduardo Salinas
 Claudia Malpartida /

Yesterday morning on the beach The Turkeys Barranco a youth group enjoyed a perfectly normal from the sea and the last rays of sun. "We have come to the beach on Sunday and today (Monday) after school. We want to take before winter arrives and it's cold," said his board while getting ready to run a wave. The funny thing is that the Environmental Health Department also launched an alert yesterday barring entrance to this and other beaches of Lima, such as turkeys, La Herradura and La Encantada. The reason? In the past 20 days has recorded the deaths of at least 4450 in the coastal Peruvian pelicans, as reported by the Technical Administration of Forestry and Wildlife Ministry of Agriculture. The greatest discovery occurred on the beaches of Trujillo.
There, a total of 4000 of these species have perished. On the beaches of Lima are about 150, in Chiclayo 200, and Casma 100. For the conservationist Lambayeque Heinz Plenge death of hundreds of dolphins and pelicans on the north coast is an "ecological catastrophe".

"Our country is in the sights of the world and is very important to know how to react to an emergency like this. Many species are endangered and must act quickly," he said. Therefore Plenge, along with other environmentalists, asks the competent institutions make an effective investigation to find the real causes of the mass death of pelicans in the Peruvian coast.

NO ANCHOVETA
Faced with this serious problem Carlos Bocanegra, Department of Fisheries Biology, National University of Trujillo, warned that the absence of anchovy, their only food, and a table of parasitosis due to malnutrition of these birds killed hundreds of pelicans on the coast of the northern department of La Libertad.

The specialist indicated that some birds had roundworm, parasite of the Pelicans own, whose action is potentiated by lower their defenses because of the problem food. "What struck us is the excessive number of parasites, which means a risk to public health, because each female produces 250.000 eggs, which are thrown into the waterfront," he said.

Similarly, reported that in the examined birds droppings were found in white, indicating that they were healthy and only starving.

El Niño
In this regard Abraham Levy, president of Weather, a private company to monitor and forecast weather in Peru, attributed what happened to the birds of the unusual warming of the sea, may signal the El Nino weather phenomenon.

"The last episode of mass mortality of seabirds, with major extinctions, dates from 1997. (...) In both cases there was a significant warming of the sea," said Levy.

The bodies of the pelicans appeared in Lambayeque "have little weight and have no food in their crops." According to Jose Delgado Castro, head of the Technical Administration of Forestry and Wildlife Lambayeque, this was due to overfishing of anchovies in our sea.

"The fishing industry, marine pollution or exploratory waves of ships, have much to do. I think animals have died of starvation, lack or withdrawal of shoals of fish in our sea," he said.

ALERT ON BEACHES
Given the alarming number of dead pelicans General Directorate of Environmental Health (Digesa) warned about the restrictions on entry to the northern beaches and Lima. Therefore Ausejo Bernardo, head of the Environmental Management and Protection of the Environment, asked the mayors to collect and bury the dead animals that appear on the beaches of the Peruvian coast, to avoid having contact with swimmers.

"As a precaution, staff involved in collecting dead marine species must employ at least gloves and masks. If necessary to have other personal protective equipment," said Ausejo, who said that the alert is in effect while a clarification the cause of death in these species.

Because of this problem has also been indirectly harmed the fishing industry. Fish consumption has decreased significantly to the fear of consumers. Therefore, the director of the environmental organization Mundo Azul, Stefan Austermühle criticized that although our country has a specialized center such as the Instituto del Mar del Peru (IMARPE), with high technology, is not yet determined the cause of these mass casualties. "Fish consumption should not vary, so people need clear and there is none," said Austermühle.

For its part the Ministry of Agriculture also ruled that the death of thousands of pelicans out from the virus of Avian Influenza (impact on human health), Newcastle disease (impact on the poultry industry) or laryngotracheitis.
"We will form teams made up of the Forestry and Wildlife (DGFFS) and SENASA. Will conduct ongoing monitoring along the entire Peruvian coast, with greater emphasis on regions where there is already a history of death pelicans and boobies, "said Agriculture Minister Luis Ginocchio.

TOURISM smoothly
Also, the alert declared by Digesa in some beaches of Peru does not adversely affect the national tourism resorts because they are less concurrency.

Therefore, the general manager of the National Chamber of Tourism of Peru (Canatur), Luis Villa Prado said that this will not detract visitors ecological tourist beaches in the country.

"I do not think that could affect tourism because this warning is focused on some beaches that are not high concurrency, specifically tourists. I do not think there is a negative effect, "he said.

The truth is that in recent months the marine fauna has been severely affected. Both environmentalists and the people themselves call for quick action to solve this terrible problem.



Keys



dead dolphins. Today, the scientific director of the Instituto del Mar del Peru (IMARPE), Raul Castillo, will report on the death of dolphins in the north, in the Hall Victor Raul Haya de la Torre of Congress, at 1 pm.

peaceful march. Next Tuesday May 15th will be a peaceful march to stop the mass killing of dolphins and marine life in the Peruvian coast. The event starts at noon at the Ministry of Production.



APPROACH



"Pelicans dying from lack of anchovy"



Carlos Bocanegra
 Fisheries biologist at the University of Trujillo



By studying the dead pelicans on the northern coast have found that low muscle mass by a problem of severe malnutrition. This coincides with the lack of food, so we have determined that the absence of anchovy, due to high sea temperature is the main cause of high mortality of seabirds reported.

The anchovy is migrating south in search of cold waters, and the same behavior is observed in the pelicans. We found no food in their stomachs characteristic of these birds, fish such as catfish and banks, which explains the absence of food have taken what they could because they are starving. Malnutrition is killing them.

Another result of the study at the University of Trujillo is that some birds had roundworm, parasite of the Pelicans own, whose action is potentiated by lower their defenses because of the problem food. There was an excessive number of parasites, which means a risk to public health, because each female produces 250 000 eggs, which are thrown into the coast.

This intestinal parasite that can grow to 20 to 30 inches, creates problems of anemia, pallor, malnutrition and, in extreme cases, death.

On the other hand, in the case of dolphins, is very delicate to say whether the deaths were supposedly related to viruses. However, just like the pelicans, the lack of anchovy population will soon seals may appear dead on the coast.    http://www.larepublica.pe/08-05-2012/en-solo-20-dias-se-han-hallado-mas-de-cuatro-mil-pelicanos-muertos