Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06SANSALVADOR756
2006-03-17 17:55:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy San Salvador
Cable title:  

CREATURES GREAT FELLED BY CREATURES SMALL - SEA

Tags:  ECON EFIS SENV ES 
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VZCZCXYZ0013
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSN #0756 0761755
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 171755Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1592
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 0825
UNCLAS SAN SALVADOR 000756 

SIPDIS

QUITO FOR ECON/DTITUS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EFIS SENV ES
SUBJECT: CREATURES GREAT FELLED BY CREATURES SMALL - SEA
TURTLE DEATHS APPARENTLY FROM BIOLOGICAL CAUSES

REF: SAN SALVADOR 000089

UNCLAS SAN SALVADOR 000756

SIPDIS

QUITO FOR ECON/DTITUS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EFIS SENV ES
SUBJECT: CREATURES GREAT FELLED BY CREATURES SMALL - SEA
TURTLE DEATHS APPARENTLY FROM BIOLOGICAL CAUSES

REF: SAN SALVADOR 000089


1. SUMMARY: Red tide has been determined as the cause of a
turtle die off that occurred along the coast of El Salvador
in January. Results of toxicology tests on the tissue of a
turtle autopsied by U.S. biologists concluded that the
turtle died from high levels of saxitoxins in its system.
Researchers from the Mexican National Autonomous University
came to the same conclusion based on tissue samples taken
from two other turtles. No further turtle deaths have been
reported in El Salvador since early January, but high levels
of toxins continue to be found in shellfish. END SUMMARY.


2. A red tide event occurred along the coast of El
Salvador beginning in November 2005, causing the government
to prohibit the harvesting of shellfish, killing one elderly
Salvadoran and sickening dozens. On January 4, 2006 the
first turtle remains washed ashore in El Salvador, although
there were reports of turtles seen floating on the open
ocean on December 30, 2005. The Minister of Environment
Hugo Barrera initially said in the press the cause of the
deaths was the illegal use of fishing nets not adequately
equipped with turtle excluder devices, but later retracted
this citing the need for a more thorough investigation.


3. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) sent a
biologist to work with the Ministry of the Environment
(MARN) and CENDEPESCA, the fisheries division of the
Ministry of Agriculture. The biologist, Dr. Julie White,
spent a week in El Salvador examining the remains of
turtles, and took tissue samples from dead turtles and blood
samples from two live turtles. The remains of only one
turtle were viable to study, and tissue samples from this
turtle were sent to the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission for analysis. The analysis of the
tissues showed levels of saxitoxins high enough to conclude
they were the causative agent in the death of the turtle.
The lab determined the origin of the saxitoxins as the
dinoflagellate Pyrodinium bahamense.


4. The Mexican National Autonomous University in
conjunction with the University of El Salvador also took
samples from the remains of two turtles and determined the
red tide had killed both turtles. Both MARN and Cendepesca
are citing the results of the U.S. and Mexican studies as
proof that red tide was responsible for the turtle die-off.
Cendepesca reported a total of approximately 200 dead
turtles washed ashore or spotted on the open ocean, but most
of these turtles had been dead for some time and the remains
were too decomposed to provide viable tissue samples for
examination. No further turtle deaths have been reported in
El Salvador since January, but a similar turtle die off was
recorded in Panama in early February. Sonia Salavarria,
Fisheries Coordinator at Cendepesca reports that while
levels of toxins in shellfish have decreased they are still
high enough to maintain the ban on the harvest of shellfish.


5. Comment: Of approximately 200 dead turtles in El
Salvador, very few valid tissue samples were obtained, which
makes confirmation of the overall cause of death difficult.
However, the WCS and the Mexican studies both found levels
of saxitoxins high enough to cause death in the turtles they
studied, and it was known that there was an increase of P.
bahamense in the waters off the coast of El Salvador at the
time of the deaths, making this the likely cause of death.
Illegal fishing had been raised as a possibility for the die
off, but the toxicology results make this theory unlikely.
End Comment.


Barclay