Though the cause of the whale deaths has not been determined, five environmental organizations - three in Mexico and two in the United States - filed a criminal complaint against the company with Mexico's attorney general last Wednesday. ESSA has denied any wrongdoing.
That doesn't matter much to Homero Aridjis, one of the area's leading activists. Aridjis said there are no reliable statistics on deaths for past years, but the total has rarely reached 20. Aridjis has received unflagging support from Greenpeace, the international conservation organization. Earlier this week, representatives from the organization issued a press release saying that the number of dead whales, sea lions and other creatures along Mexican shores is the highest in the world.
"Mexican authorities face the problem with evasive and groundless answers," said Greenpeace coordinator Juan Carlos Cantu. "They have never really told us why [the whales and sea lions] are dying. What they tell us is like saying that people die of heart failure. Of course everyone dies when their hearts stop."
After Greenpeace issued its release, Mexico's environmental authorities publicly opposed a thorough investigation, saying there was not enough evidence to warrant such query. The following day, a Mexican government official denied the claims, saying there was a lack of scientific evidence in the case. To add insult to injury, Eduardo Canto, a spokesman for the environmental prosecutor, also denied the accusations.
"We cannot give a cause without having scientific bases," Canto said.
As was reported in this column last month, the giant sea mammals migrate each year from the Arctic waters of the Bering Straits down through the Pacific, typically birthing and rearing their young in Mexican waters between December and March.
Greenpeace said that 29 whales have been found dead this year along the coasts of Sinaloa, Sonora and Baja California Sur states, while 200 sea lions died in the Gulf of California. Furthermore, 18 dead whales have been found in the Ojo de Liebre and Guerrero Negro lagoons, where ESSA operates. Several environmental groups, including Greenpeace, claim the company is responsible for killing dozens of sea turtles and other wildlife with discharges of brine - extremely salty water that is the byproduct of salt production. The company has been under fire from environmental conservationist organizations for nearly five years.
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