Overview
- Local fishermen found about ten dead pelicans on Salaverry beach in Trujillo and later reports described dozens of stranded seabirds that experts link to prolonged food shortages caused by warmer coastal waters.
- Biologists say warming has pushed anchoveta and other small fish away from the shore, a loss of prey that can cause starvation in guanera birds and lead them to scavenge near ports before dying.
- Park scientists and residents reported hundreds to thousands of dead fish along 200 to 400 meters of Punta Caracol and Puerto Morelos shoreline with surface water described as turbid and low in oxygen.
- Conanp recorded a point measurement of 1.2 mg/L dissolved oxygen at Punta Caracol on July 21 and agencies have collected water and carcass samples while crews remove sargassum and dead biomass for analysis and safe disposal.
- Authorities warn that exposed carcasses can carry parasites and bacteria, coastal livelihoods and tourism are being affected, and officials say investigations remain provisional with no single definitive cause yet identified.