Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Environmental Sustainability at High Altitude in Mexico

2013; Volume: 8; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.18848/2325-1077/cgp/v08i02/55046

2325-1085

Oswaldo Hernández‐Gallegos, Tien-Chien Pan, Ione Hunt von Herbing, José Fernando Méndez-Sánchez, Georgina Rodríguez-Vargas, Mónica Vanessa Garduño-Paz, María de Lourdes Ruiz‐Gómez,

Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond

AbstractA long-term international collaborative effort joined scientists and students from the University of North Texas (UNT) and the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México (UAEM), Toluca, to investigate the health of farmed rainbow trout (Onchorynchus mykiss) at high altitude (9642 ft) in central Mexico. This study was conducted in the Corral de Piedra watershed in Mexico State, which is the major source of clean water to nearby towns, to Mexico City, and to the expanding rainbow trout aquaculture industry. In aquaculture, stress is of central concern because stressors, which accompany intensive fish husbandry, result in compromised fish health, decrease growth and productivity, and promote disease. Stress can be quantified by measuring concentrations of four common physiological indices (glucose, lactate, cortisol and antioxidants), levels of which rise in the blood in response to stressors. Blood samples were collected in the field from farmed fish at each of five farms in the watershed: Dos Potrillos (D), Corral de Piedra (C), El Arroya (E), Piedra Ancha (P) and Tizapa (T). Three farms; C, E and P had high fish stress levels, while farm D and T had significantly lower levels. In conjunction with the fish stress analysis, nine parameters of water quality, as well as details of each farm were recorded. While it was expected that water quality would be the principal factor influencing fish stress, the results showed little significant differences in water quality among the farms compared to the Los Hoyos River. It was concluded that the one-time sampling instance of this study might not have been sufficient to resolve differences in water quality among the farms. In fact farm quality, that is; location in the watershed, farming management and pond construction, may have a significant effect on fish stress in the short-term, and will consequently influence the future of environmental sustainability of aquaculture at high-altitude in Mexico.