In 2019, someone from the Tarifa City Council had The idea of moving Asian algae (Rugulopterix Okamurae) that accumulated on their beaches to a landfill near the water treatment plant.
It was an effective idea. Until it ceased to be.
Today, They recognize that “they no longer know what to do.” They have a problem of more than five million euros that does not stop becoming more and bigger. And rate is just the best known example. Only “15,000 tons are collected in Ceuta. Antonio Vegara Jiménez said in Newtral.
Despite all efforts, last year invading algae They started arriving in Galicia. That is, the thing gets serious.
An ecological, economic and social problem. Every summer, millions of people approach the coast looking for sun, good weather, crystalline waters and clean sands. And it is increasingly difficult to find it.
Instead of a beautiful Mediterranean beach, which are usually increasingly tourists and locals is that brown, viscous and smelly mass left by the “invading algae” when dying.
In Spain, it is not necessary or remember, the beaches are A huge economic resource. At the tourist level, but also at the fishing level. Algae are threatening Some of the country’s main industries And the truth is that the coordinated response shines for its absence. For more than a decade, each town hall has made the war on their own and, let’s be honest, they are losing it.
But why they are so dangerous. By its extraodinarily aggressive behavior. This species grows very fast, is very versatile and has almost no native predator. Therefore, it displaces native algae, drastically reduces biodiversity and cause innumerable problems for artisanal fishing, aquaculture, tourism, the funding of vessels and municipal management (that brown mass has urban waste consideration).
How have you get there? In 2002 they began to see in France and for 2015, they were located in Ceuta. Possibly, it was due to merchandise ships, a well -known vector of invasive species. From there, its expansion has been rapid: first the Gibraltar field, then Málaga, Granada, and now other coastal regions.
And what can we do? That is the worst: there are no miraculous solutions. Marine biologists warn that, once an invasive species is established and finds favorable conditions, eradicating it is almost impossible.
Therefore, many researchers and businessmen They are starting to make the need virtue and seek to turn it into a resource (something that would help finance its management). But for now the situation leaves much to be desired.
It is not the end of the story. Because what we are seeing with the Rugulopteryx Okamurae It is not exactly an isolated phenomenon. Em Mediterranean is changing and we don’t know where it will take that. Every year, driven by climate change, maritime traffic and alteration of marine ecosystemsS, more invasive species find a new home on the Spanish coast.
With the economic and ecological future of our coastline, the most desperate thing is that the evidence tells us that we have no administrative instruments to face this problem. And when we decide to take action on the matter, it will probably be late.
The safest thing is that it is already.
Image | Jose Fraganillo
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