The Mar Menor Monitoring Committee has been set up, a newly structured body whose sole task will be to report fortnightly to the President of the Government on the state of the lagoon. Its first report indicates that the current situation is not particularly worrying because the water temperature is still low and this slows down biological activity. However, the nitrate inputs that the lagoon continues to receive suggest that the outlook is «not very optimistic» from the end of April onwards.
According to the spokesman for the Monitoring Committee, the head of the Fisheries Service, Emilio María Dolores, the measurements they have taken show lower than average levels of oxygen and salinity, which is also lower than usual for this ecosystem. The waters that reach the lagoon via the Rambla del Albujón have very high levels of nitrate concentration, around 200 milligrams per litre. When all these factors are combined with a rise in water temperature, the risk of repeated episodes of anoxia will be high.