Proceedings of the 2nd Dubrovnik Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water, and Environment Systems, 2003, Croatia .

Coastal Water Quality Monitoring: how can it contribute to Sustainable Development of Holbox Island, Mexico Kim Chi Tran* School of Policy Studies, Kwansei Gakuin University, 2-1 Gakuen, Sanda, Hyogo 669-1337, Japan. e-mail: [email protected] David Valdes, Jorge Herrera, Jorge Euan CINVESTAV-Merida, Km. 6 Ant. Carr. Progreso, Merida, 97310, Yucatan, Mexico e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] ABSTRACT Public participation has been recommended as an effective way to achieve sustainable development. This study is a pilot project using the interdisciplinary approach, consisting of three components. The scientific component of the project, where data related to coastal water pollution, such as temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH, nutrients, etc. are collected. The second component of the project is the social studies where survey on public perception of coastal pollution, and the environmental risk assessment have been carried out. The third component is related to capacity building to the local community, including high school students, on how to do the water quality monitoring. The three components of the project have been carried out simultaneously. The main aim of the study is to find a mechanism to involve the local community in an environmental conservation project such as coastal water quality monitoring in a sustainable, long-term basis. This is a bottom-up approach, in which the community is empowered and plays active role in sustainable development. KEYWORDS: Sustainable development, environmental conservation, coastal pollution, public participation, risk communication, community empowerment INTRODUCTION The coastal area of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico has experienced an increased influx of people after the decline of the "henequen" agro-industry (natural fiber production) in the 1940s, which was the main economic activity of the region. The employment opportunities offered by fisheries and tourism developments along the coast have generated an enormous population increase in coastal communities. The consequence is an increased pressure on the fragile coastal ecosystems such as lagoons, beaches, mangroves, etc. Some areas along the Yucatan coast, such as Tabasco and Veracruz suffer serious pollution due to the intensive development of the petroleum industry. The main risks of coastal marine pollution in other areas where the petroleum industry has not yet been developed arise from intensive construction (roads, housing, tourist facilities) related to increased urbanization. Excessive quantities of sediment, nutrients and organic matter, caused by rapid and uncontrolled urbanization have led to a degradation of the natural ecosystem and a depletion of natural resources. The result is a clear source of conflict for various stakeholders (local community, development workers, etc.), presenting a number of challenges for policy-makers who aim to provide sustainable development for the coastal zones. The need for sound management in the area is necessary to ensure the control of pollution resulting from development activities and input from members of the local community is considered to be essential for maintaining the effective implementation of programmes to monitor and control coastal marine pollution. Tran et al. Coastal Water Quality Monitoring: how can it contribute to Sustainable Development of Holbox Island, Mexico

Proceedings of the 2nd Dubrovnik Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water, and Environment Systems, 2003, Croatia .

The area of interest in this study is the coastal area of Holbox Island and the adjacent Yalahau lagoon, which are in the Quintana Roo State, Northeast of the Yucatan Peninsula. Yalahau lagoon, also known as Conil lagoon, is located between the fishing communities of Chiquila to the South and Holbox Island to the North, between the parallels 21°26' and 21°36' of North latitude and the meridians 87°08' and 87°29' West longitude, in the Northern part of the municipality of Lazaro Cardenas. This lagoon is partially isolated from the ocean by a front coastal fringe, well known as Holbox Island. The area of Holbox Island is approximately 80 square km, of elliptic form and runs parallel to the coastline (see Fig 1) [1]. The lagoon is a rich nursery of living marine resources, surrounded by mangroves and other wetland areas. The diversity and richness of species found in the area are the result of an upwelling phenomenon off the northeastern shelf of the Yucatan peninsula and these resources have, to date, been relatively little exploited. Holbox Island has undergone a recent rapid tourism development involving a large increase in numbers of visitors (national and international), with the consequent construction of hotels, tourist commodities, etc. The resulting rise in land prices, changes in the lifestyle of local communities have created an increasing number of conflicts among various stakeholders. Yalahau Lagoon is itself classified as a bio-reserve and no urban planning programme has been made for Holbox Island. An integrated coastal zone management plan is now essential for controlling the development of Holbox Island and ensuring the sustainable development of the island. This study is a pilot project, consisting of three components. The scientific component of the project consist of studies related to coastal water pollution, such as temperature, salinity, water transparency, dissolved oxygen, pH, total suspended solid, nutrients, etc. The second component of the project is the social studies where survey on public perception of coastal pollution, and the environmental risk communication have been carried out, aiming as quantifying the risks and hopefully using it as a mean to effectively communicate with policy makers and local community on various choices of development and their associative risks. The third component is related to capacity training to the local community, including high school students, on how to do the water quality monitoring. The main aim of the study is to find a mechanism to involve the local community in an environmental conservation project such as coastal water quality monitoring in a sustainable, long-term basis. In this paper we will report our experience of doing an interdisciplinary project in conservation and resource management, and how can this project contribute to sustainable development of the island. METHODOLOGY Surface water and top-5cm sediments were sampled in 42 lagoon stations two times in a one-year period (August 1999 and March 2000), for determine environment changes among rainy and dry seasons. Samples were analysed using various chemical/physical methods [2]. To determine the space variability due to non-point freshwater-nutrient sources and environment changes among rainy, north-winds and dry seasons, a high-speed synoptic mapping of salinity, temperature, chlorophyll-a and transparency was conducted (August 2001, January 2002, April 2002 and August 2002) using a DataFlow IV [3]. A survey was carried out at the beginning of

Tran et al. Coastal Water Quality Monitoring: how can it contribute to Sustainable Development of Holbox Island, Mexico

Proceedings of the 2nd Dubrovnik Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water, and Environment Systems, 2003, Croatia .

Figure 1. Map showing the general location of Holbox Island and Yalahau Lagoon the project to evaluate and learn from the local community their perception, knowledge and attitudes about coastal pollution. The main instrument used during the survey was a structured face-to-face interview [4]. Several meetings with various groups in the community were carried out frequently since the beginning of the project in order to inform them about the project and invite them to participate, and also to disseminate the results of the studies. The risk communication study consists of several steps. The first step is the risk perception study, which has been carried out in March 2003 using questionnaire survey. This survey aims to determine how people perceive coastal pollution among 30 environmental/developmental issues, which relates their lives in Holbox. Thirty nine questionnaires were collected from representatives of local government, cooperatives, an NGO, fishermen, tour guides, house holders, etc. in the local community of Holbox. In this questionnaire, factors such as values, beliefs, concerns, risk perceptions, behaviours, future vision, and so on were asked. The results of this questionnaire survey about risk perception on environmental issues and their lives will be used for risk perception study and modelling decision-making process of stakeholders in Holbox. The next steps such as the capacity buildings in the society related to risk management, and risk communication among stakeholders in Holbox will be carried out later. The guidelines of risk communication among stakeholders in Holbox will be developed in order to use in other regions of the Yucatan Peninsula.

Tran et al. Coastal Water Quality Monitoring: how can it contribute to Sustainable Development of Holbox Island, Mexico

Proceedings of the 2nd Dubrovnik Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water, and Environment Systems, 2003, Croatia .

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The scientific component The results of the water quality have been published in Tran et al. (2002 a) [2]. In summary, the coastal pollution has not yet been a serious problem except at some particular stations, namely stations 1, 37, 38 and 39 (see Fig. 2), the coastal water quality has been impaired due to human activities such as boating, garbage dumping, picnicking, etc. At those stations, the values of dissolved oxygen were as low as 2.5 ml/l compared to the average values 4.1ml/l. Nitrogen fixed forms present in normal concentrations for coastal lagoons. Stations 38, and 39, where there is more concentration of human activities, had high ammonium concentrations, probably due to the ammonification of organic nitrogen. Nitrate is very high (above 40 µM) in No. 41 and 44 stations because they are freshwater springs, rich in nitrate. The organic matter and nutrients in sediment are in normal concentration for sediments in coastal lagoons. Highest concentrations of phosphate were present in stations near Holbox town (stations 37, 38 and 39), possibly due to human activities.

Figure 2. Map showing the location of sampling stations for Holbox Island and Yalahau Lagoon From the DataFlow study, four surveys covering the main climatic seasons were carried out in order to establish the short spatial scale variability of hydrological variables. The Yalahau Lagoon as other coastal lagoons in the Yucatan Peninsula receives non-point freshwater inputs through springs, therefore it is important to know where the pollution sources are located and their effects on the spatial variability. The results (Fig. 3) show that Yalahau Lagoon is more spatially heterogeneous system during rainy season (August), because it receives more freshwater from the springs. According to Variability Index, temperature, salinity and fluorescence were more variable during rainy season; however, the transparency was more variable during north-winds season (January) due the shallowness of the lagoon, which favoured the re-suspension of the sediments. The temperature is low during north- winds season while the salinity is low during rainy season, however, the fluorescence that is a measure of the chlorophyll-a “in vivo” and transparency, were high during north-winds season probably due the re-suspension of benthic phytoplankton and particulate matter.

Tran et al. Coastal Water Quality Monitoring: how can it contribute to Sustainable Development of Holbox Island, Mexico

Proceedings of the 2nd Dubrovnik Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water, and Environment Systems, 2003, Croatia .

Temperature

Variability

40

0.16 August 2001

August 2002

April 2002

January 2002

0.14

Salinity

1989

1918

1847

1776

1705

1634

1563

1492

1421

1350

Variability

45 August 2001

1279

1208

1137

995

1066

924

853

782

711

640

143

569

0 498

0.02

0 427

0.04

5 356

0.06

10

285

0.08

15

214

0.1

20

72

0.12

25

1

30

Variability

Temperature (°C)

35

0.6

August 2002

April 2002

January 2002

40

0.5 0.4

30 25

0.3

20 15

Variability

Salinity (PSU)

35

0.2

10 0.1 5

Fluorescence

1989

1918

1847

1776

1705

1634

1563

1492

1421

1350

1279

1208

1137

1066

995

924

853

782

711

640

569

498

427

356

285

214

143

72

0 1

0

Variability

0.35

0.8 April 2002

January 2002

August 2002

0.7 0.6

0.25

0.5

0.2

0.4 0.15 0.3 0.1

0.2

0.05

0.1

Transparency

1972

1899

1826

1753

1680

1607

1534

1461

1388

1315

1242

1169

1096

1023

950

877

804

731

658

585

512

439

366

293

220

147

1

0 74

0

Variability

4

1.2 April 2002

January 2002

August 2001

3.5

August 2002 1

3 0.8

2.5 2

0.6

1.5

Variability

Transparency (URT)

Variability

Fluorescence (Cl-a "in vivo")

August 2001 0.3

0.4

1 0.2

0.5 1989

1918

1847

1776

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1563

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1208

1137

1066

995

924

853

782

711

640

569

498

427

356

285

214

143

72

0 1

0

Figure 3: DataFlow original data and spatial variability in various seasons The scientific study is important to obtain data necessary for developing a sustainable development plan, by determining the temporal and spatial variations of standard physical and chemical parameters for Holbox Island and Yalahau Lagoon, and by evaluating the relationships among these parameters. It also is an important feature to take into account for a monitoring program, since an ordination and classification analysis using the water quality data are applied to identify the most important hydrological variables and localities for the Tran et al. Coastal Water Quality Monitoring: how can it contribute to Sustainable Development of Holbox Island, Mexico

Proceedings of the 2nd Dubrovnik Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water, and Environment Systems, 2003, Croatia .

monitoring program. The data obtained can be used to construct a baseline for coastal water quality and will enable policy-makers to accurately evaluate the potential detriment to which Yalahau Lagoon and its surrounding areas are exposed. This study is part of a larger, long-term coastal-pollution-monitoring project where data on coastal water quality and sediment composition have been collected on a continuous basis since 1999, with the aim of monitoring the coastal water quality following rapid and intensive development. The results from this scientific study are particularly important because they provide a baseline that has been established from a relatively undisturbed environment, prior to intensified development. This will enable us to gauge the extent of current developmental changes and to assess their future influence on the health of this ecosystem. The social component Public perception survey. A survey was carried out at the beginning of the project (November 1999) in order to study the public perception about water quality issues and how the local community in Holbox wants to participate in the water quality-monitoring project. The results of the survey have been published in Tran et al., 2002c [4]. In summary, the majority of people interviewed during the survey indicated that particular zones have undergone substantial environmental changes, which includes the four stations 1, 37, 38 and 39 (see Fig. 2). This perception corresponds well with the results from scientific component, which indicate that this zone had higher level of contamination compared with other zones. They also indicated that station 4 located on the main beach of Holbox where the human population is concentrated and where fishing industry and construction are intensive has been under developmental stress. The types of change perceived are reported by those interviewed to be visible changes in the form and the size of the beach front, which are related to coastal erosion and building of breakwaters. Other types of perceived change included decreased fish catch, reduced land vegetation, increased urban development, increased contamination of coastal water, and increased deposition of solid wastes. The majority of people interviewed considered the main cause for these changes to be some natural phenomenon, such as winter storms ("Nortes"). Dredging, overexploitation of coastal resources and increased quantity of garbage were cited by some of those interviewed as the main causes for these perceived changes. A majority recognized that garbage dumping into coastal waters is a serious problem. More than 80% of the people interviewed said that they were ready to take into account suggestions to keep the environment healthy, and were ready to participate in educational workshops to take care of resources and in monitoring of the coastal water pollution. Nearly as many (78%) expressed a willingness to participate in fund-raising projects to support long-term monitoring of coast marine pollution, with most people indicating that they could contribute between 2 and 4 hours per week to assist our pilot project with maintaining the quality of coastal waters around Holbox Island. The results of the survey has shown only a moderate awareness and knowledge of coastal pollution issues and these data will be useful in informing government, scientists, and other interested persons/groups about public education needs and policy options for the development of Holbox Island. The public opinions about existing problems related to the development process, as well as the desires of the local community about how Holbox Island should be developed are essential for ensuring a sustainable development plan. A particularly positive result of the survey is the willingness expressed by the local community to participate in development/conservation projects. Several meetings with the community were organized to invite them to the project. The participation of students from a university and a high school, NGO and fishermen has been obtained since the beginning of the project. Results of our scientific study have been disseminated to the community on regular basis through community meetings and posters. The regular community meetings and dissemination of results are Tran et al. Coastal Water Quality Monitoring: how can it contribute to Sustainable Development of Holbox Island, Mexico

Proceedings of the 2nd Dubrovnik Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water, and Environment Systems, 2003, Croatia .

important for the continuation of the community involvement in the project because this gives the community an awareness of causes and effects of the coastal pollution and how they can participate in the problem solving process. Also the frequent contacts with the community help to build up a trusting relationship between the project staff and the community to ensure the sustainability of the project. Risk communication study. In the first step of the risk communication study, we had a community meeting with representatives from various groups such as local government representatives, “ejido” (common land owner cooperative), fishing cooperatives, an environmental NGO, and tourist cooperatives. From the meeting, issues such as religions, politics, environmental issues, tourism; what people like and dislike regarding development; what the people need, how things have changed in society and nature, etc. were revealed by the community. The garbage, oil and chemicals thrown to the sea from boat cleaning, and un-planning urbanization are issues most related to coastal water quality. Based on the results of this meeting, the pre-test questionnaire has been designed and carried out recently, in March 2003. The preliminary results of the risk perception obtained from the pre-test questionnaire show mainly a disparity in perception of coastal water pollution. 66.7% of the survey population said that there is no coastal pollution and only 33.3% said that there is (Figure 4). However the garbage issue is a concern to everybody (Figure 4). Figure 5 also shows that the garbage issue is concerned as one of the most important issues in Holbox; while the coastal pollution is not perceived as an important issue. Most people perceive coastal pollution as garbage found in the water and said that they received information about coastal pollution by visual perception. A small percentage of interviewees mentioned about the coastal pollution related to oil discarded and toxic chemicals used in the boat cleaning on the beach. Also sewage is mentioned as a cause of coastal pollution. Majority of people understand the consequences of coastal pollution as bad effects to human health, and bad for ecosystem health leading to the reduction of fish catch and economic loss. Most of people mentioned the possible solutions could be done for coastal pollution as environmental education program related to garbage management for the publics, and that personally they try not to throw garbage to the beach or into the water.

yes 33.3% no 66.7%

yes 97.4%

Coastal Pollution

Garbage Issue

Figure 4. Risk perception on Coastal Pollution and Garbage Issue Tran et al. Coastal Water Quality Monitoring: how can it contribute to Sustainable Development of Holbox Island, Mexico

Proceedings of the 2nd Dubrovnik Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water, and Environment Systems, 2003, Croatia .

5 4 3 2 c po oast ols al in ero dr the sion a st r me g & dic alc eets al oh de o cr s ea erv l se ice inc of f re as garb ish eo ag fc e ed arri uc to m o atio s sq n uit os fli es s pr ew ag os tit e ut pt i pr ote cr on ot ct h ion urr im e ec tio i n o of t cane s f t he na co he t a u l de stal ands re cr ea poll cape se ut i po wat of b on pu e lat r s irds ele ion upp ly ct ric incr ity eas ur e s job bani upp l inc op zati y re por on a t co fam i se o unit mm ly fh y ec unit rela ote l on om y re tion s lat sh ic inc dev ion ip s e re as lopm hip eo f t ent nu uris tri ts po tion ve rty

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Figure5. Importance on issues The survey population, who said that there is coastal pollution, are professionals with a somewhat higher level of schooling comparing to the group who said no coastal pollution. Since this is a pre-test questionnaire prior to the larger survey which will be carried out in 6-months time, the result of the next survey on the planned population of 200 people would show enormous difference in the public perception. The preliminary results of this pre-test questionnaire also show a strong need for environmental education, at both the formal and non-formal levels. The capacity-building component. The capacity building started at the beginning of the project with the participation of students from a university and a high school, NGO and fishermen. The participants have participated in our fieldtrips for sampling and data collection and have received capacity building on data collection and analysis. After the scientific study to establish the baseline for coastal water quality was done, the continuation of data collection on the regular basis (monthly or bi-monthly) was planned to be carried out by the local community with assistance from the project staff. The first step was to provide field instruments for the community to use. Our project team helped the community to prepare applications for financial supports from UNDP in order to buy field instruments for water quality monitoring. Then several capacity-building workshops have been carried out in order to train the community how to use the instruments for data collection and how to maintain the instruments. Besides the training for coastal water quality monitoring, we have inserted a new component in measuring the beach profile because coastal erosion is a very serious problem in Holbox Island. The community has started to take charge of sampling and part of data collection both in water quality monitoring and beach profile monitoring. For more sophisticated physical/chemical analysis, an infrastructure has been set up for the local community to send samples to our laboratory in Merida. The data collection process can be hard and boring for a group to do regularly over a long period of time. In order to solve this problem, the deep involvement of the local high school in the project is very important to sustain the monitoring over the years. The water quality monitoring could be made as a regular fieldwork for students, a part of the school curriculum, Tran et al. Coastal Water Quality Monitoring: how can it contribute to Sustainable Development of Holbox Island, Mexico

Proceedings of the 2nd Dubrovnik Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water, and Environment Systems, 2003, Croatia .

so that different groups of students can participate in the project at different time. In such way, students have advantage of using the instruments of the project, since lacking of scientific instruments in schools is a common problem in Mexico and many other developing countries. At the same time, such school activities can ensure the continuity of data collection. Local community participation and sustainable development. In order to achieve sustainable development, the three aspects: economic development, social development and environmental conservation have to be achieved simultaneously. In Holbox Island, the economic development has been accelerated through tourism and consequently urbanization. As a consequence of unplanned development, the ecosystem health and social well-being could be threatened. In our project, the public participation in the environmental conservation is a mean to sustainable development. Through the awareness and knowledge about environment/development issues and activities the project provides, the community is empowered and can take an active role in the development of their island. CONCLUSION In developing countries, there is lack of data about coastal water quality/coastal pollution necessary for decision-making due to economic difficulties. From this project, we have learnt that using community participation in coastal pollution monitoring is a cost-effective way of building up a database necessary for a coastal management/sustainable development plan. The public participation would empower the community in environmental protection and problem solving, which is essential to achieve sustainable development since the horizontal coordination/dialogue among various stakeholders in the island through the project and regular community meetings is ensured. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The Special Grant from Kwansei Gakuin University, Kobe, Japan and funds from Universidad Marista and CINVESTAV have funded the scientific studies and the social surveys. The risk communication study is funded by the Japanese Ministry of Education and Science. We thank Ms. M. Oe and Ms. M. L. Isla (Universidad Marista) for their help in social survey component. We thank the students of Universidad Maristas and Kwansei Gakuin University and the community of Holbox, especially to members of PUHAC, Ms. Norma Betancourt, Mr. Juventino Avila Oliva and Mr. Alberto Coral for their support in this project. REFERENCES 1. Jiménez-Sabatini, T.; Aguilar-Salazar, F.; Martínez-Aguilar, J.; Figueroa-Paz, R.; and Aguilar-Cardozo, C. “A fishing vision on Yalahau Lagoon in Holbox area, Quintanaroo State, Mexico”, publication of Federación Regional de Sociedades Cooperativas de la Industria Pesquera del Estado de Quintana Roo and Instituto Nacional de la Pesca, Agust 1998. 2. Tran K.C., Valdes D., Euan J., Real E., Gil E. “Status of water quality at Holbox Island, Quintana Roo State, Mexico”. Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management, 5 (2), 173-189 (2002 a). 3. Tran, K.C., Valdes, D., Herrera, J., Euan, J., Medina-Gomez, I., Aranda-Cirerol, N. “Status of coastal water quality at Holbox Island, Quintana Roo State, Mexico”, in Coastal Environment- Environmental Problems in Coastal Regions IV, WIT Press, Southampton, pp 331-340, (2002 b). Tran et al. Coastal Water Quality Monitoring: how can it contribute to Sustainable Development of Holbox Island, Mexico

Proceedings of the 2nd Dubrovnik Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water, and Environment Systems, 2003, Croatia .

4. Tran K. C., Euan J., Isla M.L., “ Public perception of development issues: impact of water pollution on a small coastal community”. Ocean & Coastal Management, 45 (6-7), 405-420, (2002 c).

Tran et al. Coastal Water Quality Monitoring: how can it contribute to Sustainable Development of Holbox Island, Mexico