Despite its importance, little is known about the water
quality in coastal areas of the Gulf of California; however,
there are two identified issues of major concern:
pesticides and nutrient overload related to agricultural
runoff and raw municipal sewage discharges. There is an
important development of intensive agriculture bordering
the eastern coast of the Gulf of California, with
approximately 1,728,868 ha of irrigated lands (Anonymous,
1994), distributed in the valleys Mexicali, Yaqui,
Mayo, del Fuerte y Culiacan, in which considerable
amounts of fertilizers and pesticides are applied