3. METHODS

Information was gathered from published and grey literature on the biodiversity, fisheries, socioeconomics and history of the Loreto region. We also conducted a bibliographic search of research related to the environmental impacts of desalination plants. To accomplish this task, we visited the libraries of the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur (UABCS) and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, obtained data through internet searches, and gathered some data through interviews and informal talks. Information was also obtained through communication with people directly involved in research projects in the Loreto region.

Since there is no literature available on the desalination plants in Mexico, we
searched for information on desalination plants built in other places of the world. Research on these plants describes the different environmental impacts that plant operations can cause on their surrounding environment. We used these results to describe possible impacts on marine habitats and organisms of the Loreto region if a plant were to be built. To analyze the potential impacts of fishing a simple correlation analysis between the number of tourists and the volume of landings in Loreto was conducted using fisheries data obtained by Leonardo Huato and Marta Haro from CIBNOR-La Paz, and from records kept by the Mexican Fishery Secretariat, SAGARPA. Data on the number of tourists was obtained through the Mexican Tourism Secretariat (SECTUR) using their database “DataTur”. Data gathered referred only to the region of Loreto and from the years 1998 to 2004.

To establish the impacts of sport fishing on the marine reef communities, we chose groupers as one indicator of these impacts. Groupers are one of the most important targets species in sport fishing and one of the top predators in rocky reefs. Reduction of grouper abundance by fishing may have cascade effects propagating across reef communities (Sala et al., 2004). The leopard grouper, Mycteroperca rosacea, is the most abundant grouper in the region and represents 94% of the grouper landings and 17% of reef fish landings within the Loreto National Park (Randall et al., 2005). We performed a correlation analysis using leopard grouper landings obtained from SAGARPA records and survey data on abundance and size structure obtained from a monitoring program established since 1998 by Enric Sala and Octavio Aburto from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Biomass was estimated using a weight-length relationship from the literature (www.fishbase.org).