Advances in the environmental recovery of El Ferrol bay (Chimbote, Perú): fast assessment

Abstract

In order to provide updated information on the progress in the recovery process of El Ferrol bay due to contamination and erosion, a documentary review and description is made based on recent visits to the ecosystem. There is a Plan for environmental recovery proposed by the Multisectoral Technical Commission in 2011, which since 2012 has been managed by the Multisectoral Working Group, led by the Ministry of the Environment, but without budgetary resources, and with precarious achievements.The steel and fishing industries, since 2012 and 2015, respectively, no longer dispose of their effluents in the bay, but have left a liability of 54 million cubic meters of sludge at the bottom, which does not allow benthic recovery; crude domestic effluents from the city of Chimbote continue to be disposed of, and pollution from port activity is critical to the north of the bay. The coastline continues to be rocked, even knowing that this will not solve the problem, but rather aggravates it. There are conditions for recovery, but it is necessary to change managers. It is proposed to insist on the creation of an autonomous authority to manage the recovery, which is costly and long-term.