University of Guadalajara (UdG) researchers are angry that the National Water Commission (Conagua) is ignoring their conclusions on why millions of dead fish wash up each year on the shores of Lake Cajititlan.
UdG experts were barred from participating in a round-table discussion called to analyze ways of resolving the problem that has occurred every summer for the past three years.
UdG investigators say a lack of oxygen provoked by severe contamination is killing the fish, and wants to compare its findings of the lake’s pollution levels with those of Conagua, which they believe to be inaccurate.
The fish species affected are known as Astyanax aeneu but referred to locally as popochas. Although several government institutions – including the Procuraduría Estatal de Protección al Ambiente (Proepa) – agree contamination in the lake is a major contributing factor to the mass deaths, others, including Semadet (Jalisco’s environment agency), have previously put the fatalities down to a drop in temperature that provokes an increase in algae and a reduction in oxygen levels.
Lake Cajititlan, often referred to as Lake Chapala’s younger sibling, is located in the municipality of Tlajomulco, midway between Guadalajara and Chapala.