(MM / 13-5-10)  Mexican authorities fear that lack of control in the oil leak into the Gulf of Mexico, besides cyclones and hurricanes of the season, will make oil slick reaches the waters of this country.

According to Captain Juan Martín Aguilar Morales, Director of Maritime Meteorology Department of the Navy (Semar), highest possibilities of impact on the coasts are in Tamaulipas, Veracruz and Tabasco states, and, to a lesser extent, in the Yucatan peninsula.

Hurricanes season begins on June 1, and oil slick caused by the accident in British Petroleum (BP) platform is 920 km northeast the coasts of Tamaulipas and 790 north of the ones of Yucatan.

 

According to him, 11 million barrels of crude oil have been dumped so far, which have form an oil slick 290 km long and 277 wide. Mexican Navy has said that “movement of coastal currents with seasonal behaviour has favour” this country and have they have taken the oil to American coasts.

However, he warned that if the oil is not controlled, the oil slick could reach Mexico, “since during October to February (2011) the currents pattern is just the opposite”. It could damage mainly “wetlands and coastal Mexican fisheries.”

Tropical cyclones and hurricanes that begin to occur in the Atlantic basin could also modify the movement of the dumped oil and make its control harder.

At the same event, José Sarukhán, Director of the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (Conabio), explained that there is no affectation to any animal species in Mexico, although he mentioned some turtles, cetaceans and other migratory mammals that could be in danger.