Cuban experts maintain vitality of lagoon ecosystem in country's keys

 

CIEGO DE AVILA, Cuba, Apr 14 (ACN) The constructive maintenance of the Water Renovation System of Coastal Lagoons (REALCO), a unique engineering work of its kind in Cuba, makes possible the continuous improvement of environmental indicators in Laguna Larga, the largest natural aquarium in the northern keys of Ciego de Avila.

Janet Quiñones Galvez, territorial delegate of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA by its Spanish acronym), highlighted the efforts of workers of the Cayo Coco Tourism Works Construction Company, in charge of freeing the artificial channel that interconnects the reservoir with the ocean from sediments and ensuring the restoration of the infrastructure.

A work of interest to maintain the vitality of Laguna Larga and protect the wildlife, the health of the mangroves and the establishment of the ichthyofauna was revitalized, she explained.

Included in the State Plan to Confront Climate Change (Tarea Vida), this three-kilometer-long engineering work also allows the dissipation of wave energy to take place in an aquatic environment and in a gradual manner, avoiding an action-reaction impact that favors the erosive process in coastal areas.

It is a mechanism in harmony with nature, which regulates the entry and exit of water through a system of floodgates, thus helping to avoid floods and creating favorable environmental conditions for the development of tourism in an area where hotels such as Muthu Colonial, Tryp Cayo Coco and Mojito are located.

Created by experts from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, REALCO is a procedure that uses the energy of ocean waves to move water into the lagoons and reduce the retention time of this liquid, so that the exchange and renewal offer guarantees for environmental health and biodiversity conservation.

Recently, government representatives in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, corroborated the operation and feasibility of REALCO, with the purpose of extending the experience to their country to promote the environmental health of coastal lagoons located in tourist areas.

The periodic connection of coastal lagoons with the ocean leads to important changes in the physical, chemical and biological dynamics of these reservoirs, which have become a refuge for species such as resident and migratory birds that find in these places appropriate conditions for feeding and reproduction.

They are also ecosystems of great importance for the quality of the beaches, because they act as natural filters, eliminating pollutants before they reach the sea, which favors water clarity and prevents the proliferation of algae and bacteria that can affect these beaches.