beaches

beaches destroyed and unusable now that the season begins

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Now that the rains have lost relevance and everything is, little by little, returning to normal: Andalusia is beginning to realize that the winter storms have left much more than accumulated water: they have left a much more uncomfortable truth than the community is willing to accept. Because now Easter is coming and the “Andalusian paradise of sun and beach” has become a succession of destroyed promenades, damaged infrastructure and stretches where the beaches are completely missing. It’s something we knew and didn’t want to see. It is something that the storm is going to force us directly. What has happened? The first part of the story is simple and we have repeated it many times: trains of storms, persistent rains, water systems at the edge of their capacity. But also bad sea, wind and huge waves. As a consequence, while we were all 100% aware of overflows and reservoirs, several provinces have seen how the loss of sand and damage to coastal infrastructure became our daily bread. Huelva, we have already talked about ithas taken the worst part. And yes, the Andalusian Parliament has asked the central government (who has powers in the Coasts) for “stabilization, protection and restoration” works through emergency means. But even if they arrive, that will only be a temporary arrangement. The Andalusia that also lives off its coasts. Beyond the stereotypes, there are many Andalusias. And yes, one of them (or several) lives off its coasts. In 2025, without going any further, tourism broke his own record of visitors and income: we are talking about 37.9 million visitors and more than 30 billion. Now the calendar is tight and the problem has become evident, but the urgency cannot make us forget that it was there from the first moment. Because? As experts remember, the profile of the beaches “it constantly changes in response to changes in transverse sediment transport produced by marine dynamics, especially waves.” This “has never changed in all of history”, what has changed is that in recent decades it has begun to matter to us. How much we have changed. Well, because the emergence of mass tourism starting in the 1960s turned beaches into a very valuable resource and filled them with investments, infrastructure and capital. When the beaches began to change, we applied brute force: as we have explained on more than one occasion“the construction of breakwaters, the annual filling of beaches and the construction of coastal infrastructure to ‘secure’ the line have been the daily routine of our relationship with the beaches.” And as we have more and more investments in them, the problems become more critical and, for this reason, it is more expensive to insure these investments. But we can’t. It’s a race to nowhere; because, nowhere, can we answer the big questions left by the storms: will we be able to withdraw from the eroded front line in an orderly and fair manner? Will we be able to convert that tourism into something that maintains jobs, families and population? Will we be able to understand that behind these rains lies an entire country with a huge problem or will we continue as before? Image | Suomi In Xataka | Twenty years after the Prestige, Galicia faces another environmental disaster on its beaches: pellets

When a town found a dead whale on its beaches, it decided to dynamite it. 55 years later they still celebrate it

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One of the most excessive and gory stories you have ever heard in your life is also one of the funniest, because for a change it does not involve the suffering of any living being, but rather a series of unfortunate decisions and systematic ignorance of the laws of physics. It is the story of the whale Oregon explosion, a crazy event that just turned 55 years old… and is still being celebrated. The problem. On November 12, 1970, engineers from the Oregon Highway Division, which is in charge of road traffic on a day-to-day basis, encountered an unusual dilemma on the beach in the small coastal town of Florence: getting rid of a dead eight-ton sperm whale that had been decomposing in the sun for three days. After consulting with the Navy about demolition techniques, the team decided to apply a solution as direct as it was disastrous to the corpse: half a ton of dynamite (twenty boxes), in the hope of pulverizing the cetacean. The seagulls would be in charge of cleaning up the remains. Good marines, bad advisors. The consultation turned out to be counterproductive. The marines advised on demolition with explosives, their specialty, but no one consulted marine biologists or coastal wildlife experts. Walter Umenhofer, a local businessman with military experience, warned Thornton that twenty boxes of dynamite was excessive: he recommended twenty individual cartridges or, if not, a much larger amount to completely pulverize organic tissue. His advice was ignored. Boom. The detonation, at 3:45 PM, caused a 30 meter high sand and grease apocalypsethrowing whale fragments in all directions. Blocks of tissue and muscle the size of coffee tables fell on spectators located at a safe distance of more than 400 meters from the explosion point. The screams of excitement from the hundred or so spectators turned into screams of horror as fragments of tissue fell from the sky. Some of the pieces of fat, almost a meter long, crushed the roof of a vehicle. The smell of burning flesh lingered for days and the seagulls never appeared. The decision of George Thornton, responsible for the action, lacked technical basis from the beginning. In one previous interviewadmitted: “I’m sure it will work. The only thing we’re not sure about is exactly how much dynamite we’ll need to break this… thing up, so the seagulls and crabs and other scavengers can clean it up.” Thornton decided to treat the cetacean like a rock on a road: half a ton of explosives strategically placed under the animal, in the hope that the force would propel the remains into the Pacific. What to do with a whale. Cetacean strandings have posed logistical dilemmas for coastal authorities for decades. Prior to the development of unified scientific protocols (that prioritize scientific necropsy on rapid elimination), methods for dealing with dead whales often relied on improvisation. The most common options They included burial on the beach, towing out to sea for sinking, or simply allowing the animal to decompose naturally. Today, disposal methods have evolved: countries such as South Africa, Iceland and Australia continue to use controlled explosives after towing cetaceans out to seabut the United States ended up abandoning this practice. When 41 sperm whales stranded near Florence in 1979, authorities They buried them without hesitation. Hunting In 1970, Oregon lacked specific guidelines for these cases. The Oregon Highway Division had jurisdiction over state beaches (an administrative quirk arising from the legal consideration of coastlines as part of the public highway system) but no expertise in marine biology. When the sperm whale arrived in Florence, George Thornton publicly admitted that he had been assigned to the case.”because his supervisor had gone hunting“. The closest precedent had been successful because of its modesty: two years earlier, in 1968, authorities in Long Beach, Washington, had managed a similar stranding through a conventional burial without incident. The unforgettable video. All was immortalized by KATU journalist Paul Linnman, who arrived on the scene initially frustrated by what he considered a menial assignment. Until he found out the amount of dynamite involved. With cameraman Doug Brazil documented the event on 16mm film with live magnetically recorded audio, a format that, unlike video, would retain its visual quality for decades. On. After the disaster, most of the sperm whale remained intact on the beach. Highway Division workers spent the afternoon manually burying the remains, including huge sections of the animal that were not moved from the explosion point. Thornton declared to Bacon that same afternoon that everything had gone “well…except that the explosion dug a hole in the sand beneath the whale,” directing the force upward rather than toward the ocean. decades laterThornton continued to defend the operation as a technical success distorted by hostile media coverage. It goes viral. For two decades, the incident remained a regional anecdote until comedian Dave Barry resurrected history in his Miami Herald column on May 20, 1990. Titled “The Far Side Comes to Life in Oregon,” in reference to the immortal series by gary larson. His description of the event introduced the American public to the concept of “epic fail” before the digital age popularized the term. The Oregon Department of Transportation received calls from angry people, convinced the incident had occurred recently. Which makes the exploding whale one of the first stories to go viral on the internet. Beyond the meme. The phenomenon transcended the purely digital. In 2015, Oregon indie musician Sufjan Stevens released the song ‘Exploding Whale‘, where it said “Embrace the epic failure of my exploiting whale”. Of course, the event appeared on ‘The Simpsons’, in the 2010 episode ‘The Squirt and the Whale’. In 2020, the Oregon Historical Society commissioned a 4K restoration of the original 16mm footage of the news story. The laughs. 55 years later, that fiasco in public management has been transformed into folklore and local heritage. In 2024, Florence declared November as “Exploding Whale Month”and the city celebrates the anniversary with a festival that culminates with the “Superlative … Read more

The future of beaches is more complicated than it seems

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Storm Francis caused hundreds of problems in Andalusia. But if we have to choose just one (if only because of its iconic character), it would have a first and last name: Matalascañas. And the town in Almont suffered even a preventive eviction due to the risk of collapsing a building next to its promenade. However, no one expected what the storm left behind. More than four and a half kilometers of destruction. Specifically, 4.6 kilometers of walking completely destroyed and the collapse of entire stretches of beach; damage to at least three beach bars and many problems in the city’s treatment plant. The first estimates they talk about three million euros only for urgent interventions, although no one expects that the complete recovery of all the razed infrastructure will take less than ten. This is not the first time something like this has happened in Huelva, why is this important? Indeed, at this time last year we were talking about how it had disappeared El Portil beach in Punta Umbría. Huelva is one of the most sensitive points to coastal problems and its beaches are becoming areas in danger of extinction. What has happened in Matalascañas is not important because it is new, nor even because it is unusually large. It is important because Francis has hit one of the iconic places of Spanish tourism. It is, black on white, the confirmation that the problem is real and the solutions are difficult (and expensive). Stop the world. Because the truth is that it is something that we want to stop a process that has always been there. Nearby, at the mouth of the Piedras River, is the ‘arrow of the Rompido’ a spit of sand that extends on the left bank of the river and that grows up to 80 meters a year. That is to say, the people of Huelva have very close examples that beaches are almost ‘living beings’. As experts remember, the profile of the beaches “it constantly changes in response to changes in transverse sediment transport produced by marine dynamics, especially waves.” This “has never changed in all of history”, what has changed is that in recent decades it has begun to matter to us. Because? Well, because the emergence of mass tourism starting in the 1960s turned beaches into a very valuable resource and filled them with investments, infrastructure and capital. When the beaches began to change, we applied brute force: as we have explained on more than one occasion“the construction of breakwaters, the annual filling of beaches and the construction of coastal infrastructure to ‘secure’ the line have been the daily routine of our relationship with the beaches.” The problem is that we have more and more investments in them, the problems become more critical and, for this reason, it is more expensive to insure them. A race to nowhere (that we are not going to stop running). These days, experts they have spoken of losses of more than two meters per year and pointing to the role of the Juan Carlos I Jetty (13 km) in the alteration of currents and sedimentation dynamics. Furthermore, the evacuations show that the current infrastructure cannot “hold” and that the changes that Matalascañas needs are much deeper than what a “reconstruction” would entail. And yet, the neighbors’ demands are logical and, possibly, will be attended to by the administration (even more so in an election year in Andalusia). However, the question remains (and will continue) on the table: Will we be able to withdraw from the eroded front line in an orderly and fair manner? Will we be able to industrially reconvert that tourism into something that maintains jobs, families and population? Will we be able to understand that behind Matalascañas hides an entire country with an enormous problem? Image | Luis Daniel Carbia Head In Xataka | Twenty years after the Prestige, Galicia faces another environmental disaster on its beaches: pellets

Italy has found a disturbing way to end the tourist of its beaches: privatize them

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Summer on national beaches as a national concept we would say that it is in Danger of extinction In southern Europe. And not for the desire, but for the cost. If you start noticing a Run Run Among your acquaintances where talking about vacation on the coast seems little less than an urban legend for the exorbitant price, Italy has a message for navigators: they no longer give to hammocks and umbrellas. If touring homeland He was getting so expensive that he came out More profitable the Caribbeannow we have record. A beach banquet. Counted in a report The New York Times that, on the beaches of Apulia, especially in Bari, the time of lunch was always a Collective show Where entire families display tables, tablecloths and trays full of lasagers, rice with mussels, seafood pastes, fried sausages or raw octopus, keeping alive a custom that goes back to the rise of mass tourism in the postwar period. This practice, popularly known as Fagottari (Those who load with food packages), have their roots in the Italian working culture, when the beach holidays were the Unique accessible luxury and the shared banquet represented a community celebration. A tradition in crisis. Going to the beach in Italy has been a deeply rooted cultural ritual for decades, one marked by the custom of rent sun loungers, umbrellas and cabins in the so -called as stabilimenti Balnari They control much of the coast. However, this summer the influx has fallen between 15% and 25% compared to the previous year in private concessions, especially on working days, while on weekends the beaches continue to fill. The difference is also in consumption: those who come spend less on bars and restaurants, a reflection of generalized economic discomfort. The weight of inflation and prices. The most repeated explanation by business associations is the Loss of purchasing power in a context of inflation and increased cost of life. But this assistance crisis is also associated with the SUSTAINED UP of prices on private beaches, which have increased by 17% in four years. For example, the most extreme: rent two sun louges and an umbrella costs no less than 30 euros on the beaches of Lazio and up to 90 euros in fashion places like Gallipoli, in Puglia. The image of private beaches with rows of empty hammocks has become a symbol of disenchantment. The confrontation. There are more. Given that The Times underlined that in recent years, the rise of foreign tourism and the proliferation of the Stabilimenti Balnari They have been restricting the public space, making access and, in some cases, imposing rules that prohibit introducing food. Club owners allege the need to preserve the “decoration” and income of their bars, but neighbors denounce an attack on A basic rightbecause the law recognizes that Beaches are public And it cannot be forbidden to wear food. The conflict has reached political and legal dyes, with headlines that describe an authentic “Picnic Picnic War”, in which lawyers, consumer associations and even politicians They have intervened. The political and cultural debate. The Guardian told that the phenomenon has opened a deeper debate about the concentration of private management on the Italian coasts, which leaves little space to public beaches. Figures known as actor Alessandro Gassmann They have pointed out That the combination of “exaggerated” prices and economic difficulties is pushing the Italians towards the free beaches. Sector defenders claim that prices have not grown as much as they say and that They include services security and lifeguards, but consumer associations denounce that concessions have become A “black hole” For families finance. For the locals, the fact of having to hide or defend their fasteners represents a symbol of alienation and loss of identity. “Apulia is no longer ours”, Some regretremembering how free beaches have been absorbed by luxury resorts today. Citizen rebellion. Outrage has materialized In protests From Sicily to Liguria. In Lavinio, near Anzio, politician Matteo Hallissey (+Europe) was pushed when planting an umbrella to denounce illegal posters of “private beach”. In Mondello (Sicily), demonstrations made the authorities order to remove turniquetes that prevented access to sand. In Metaponto (Basilicata), the Police intervened to confiscate hundreds of sun loungers and umbrellas illegally. In Naples, activists protested against fenced sections In the spy of the monache, while in Marina di Pietrasanta (Toscana) They nailed umbrellas in the sand as a symbolic act of coastal reappropriation. These actions have visible a generalized discomfort: the feeling that the sea, collective heritage, has been usurped for private interests with the complicity of politicians fearful to face a powerful lobby. The lobby strength. The Stabilimenti sector constitutes a Economic framework Family and hereditary in many coastal regions, where businesses are transmitted from parents to children and generate fortunes linked to summer tourism. In locations such as Bacoli, near Naples, summer income can exceed 100,000 daily visitors. The power of this lobby has made successive governments, for two decades, have avoided Impose real limits to the privatization of the beaches. Faced with this inertia, some mayors, such as Josi Della Ragione in Bacoli, have promoted shock measures: decree that at least 50% From the coast it is freely accessible, knock down illegal constructions and remove equipment that blocks the passage. His determination has faced mafia interests and death threats, but symbolizes institutional resistance to the private appropriation of the sea. Mountain displacement. Thus, while private beaches lose customers, tourism is being redirected Towards the mountainwith special intensity In Los Dolomitaswhere some municipalities already alert risk of massification. The trend does not respond only to the economic factor: more and more Italians seek refuge in fresh altitudes to escape stifling summers, intensified by the climatic crisis. This tourist transfer symbolizes a cultural transformation into Italian summer vacations, in which The traditional model Private beach staggers in front of new social, economic and environmental realities. Perhaps for this reason, those shirts are, in words of manythe last thing left in some more and more privatized and … Read more

Cabo de Gata promised them happy with the tourist pull of its beaches. Until the dunes became parkings

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He Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park It is an environmental jewel of the Mediterranean, but also an important claim for visitors who only in Julio saw how they accessed their regulated beaches and coves More than 15,000 vehicles. Combining these two facets is not always simple, as can be seen from The last complaint From Pacma, which warns that an important dunes zone has ended up “destroyed” and turned, at least in a simple parking. “It’s bleak,” he regrets animalist formation. What happened? Than the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park He is being a victim of his own popularity among visitors. This was denounced a few days ago the Pacma coordinator in Almería, Eduardo Milla, who has warned of the “serious destruction” of the dunar systems of the Para del Charcoa protected sand located between the beach of Cabo de Gata and that of the herb. To be more precise, Pacma complaint That the fence that protected the area is broken or dropped at several points due to the “lack of maintenance”, which allows the passage of people and even cars. “As a consequence, several Dunar cords have disappeared, transforming some of these areas into improvised parking lots.” Is it so serious? Animalist formation warns of the risks to the sand and that the achievements of the last and a half decade are cast. “What was protected for years has been suddenly unprotected,” Add mile. “Some dunes have become esplanadas to park. It is bleak how areas that took more than 15 years to recover have disappeared in a summer.” The Pacma coordinator in Almería goes even further and recalls that the Dunar Systems of the Arenal are “of the most important” of the Natural Park next to those of the amoladas beach, so it claims to the authorities that intervene “urgently” to “revert to the maximum” the damages. Is it the only complaint? Pacma’s warning is especially overwhelming for its content and has achieved A considerable echoespecially between The regional pressbut animalist formation is not the only one that has ruled on tourism in the protected area of Cabo de Gata-Níjar. In early August the Andalusia Board itself launched A statement To emphasize the importance of visitors acting “with responsibility” and “respect” in the park. “The conservation of this privileged environment is a collective task. The individual behavior of each visitor has a decisive weight. We make this call for consciousness and responsibility to ensure that the enjoyment of the park does not be detrimental to its future,” claims The organism director, Salvador Parra. And what do they propose? Among other issues, the Board remembers that it is forbidden to collect specimens of flora and fauna during visits (“They suppose a serious alteration of the ecosystem,” he emphasizes), throwing garbage or getting out of the marked paths. The Ministry too remember That certain activities, such as diving, kayak or fishing, must respect certain guidelines. On the mainland, free camping is not allowed or that motorhomas are at night outside the marked areas. What is the problem? The key slide the newspaper recently ABC in An analysis in which he points out the complicated balance to which Cabo de Gata is cornered: it is an environmental jewel, “one of the protected spaces of greater ecological relevance of the Western Mediterranean”, in the words of the Junta de Andalucía; But also an important tourist claim. Throughout last year the main facilities of public use of the park counted 38,400 people. According to The data That Europa Press handles, last month on the beaches and coves located west of the nucleus of San José, from Genoese to Cala Carbon, the entrance of more than 15,000 private vehicles was counted. That figure reveals a slight rebound (+3.4%) with respect to 2024, although it remains below the 2014 peaks. The daily average was thus in July in about 485 vehicles. Have more measures been taken? Yes. At the beginning of summer the Ministry of Sustainability and Environment He began to control The accesses to several beaches of Cabo Gata-Níjar precisely for the influx of car, a measure that will remain active until September 28. Canal Sur requires that those who want to access the beaches of Mónsul, Genoese or Cala Coal, among others, and park in one of their 399 places They must be done before with a six -euro ticket per vehicle. In The order In which he reports access restrictions, the Andalusian Board recalls that other years has been proven as “the agglomeration of people and vehicles” that are concentrated in the area during the summer deteriorate the coastal ecosystem. That without counting on the “serious problems of collapses in the access roads” that, the government warns, prevent both the minimum safety conditions “in case of emergency and the provision of basic services. Images | Stablemechanism (Flickr), Pacma and Wikipedia In Xataka | The north of Spain has been complaining about mass tourism for years. Asturias has discovered the bitter consequences of losing it

We are running out of beaches on the planet. And we don’t realize because they are filling them at an indecent price

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There is something much worse than the appearance of algae either Fecal matter On the beaches. Even above of systematic “theft” That is being done on the coasts to continue raising brick, there is a silent reality whose ending is a scenario where, directly, we run out of beaches on the planet. That process is not just happening, we are spending a fortune at all. Global threat. I told this week The Financial Times In an extensive report. Rodanthein the Outer Banks of North Carolina, exemplifies the serious erosion suffered They have collapsed at sea. The problem, aggravated by more intense storms, strong tides and the rise in the level of the sea associated with climate change, is now amplified by a critical factor: the Sand scarcityresource that acts as a natural barrier to floods and temporal, but whose growing demand (especially For construction) it more expensive and limits its availability. The (no) trick. He method More common to stop erosion has been the “beach regeneration”, moving sand From other points, but in Rodanthe the initial cost would exceed 40 million dollarssomething unassumable for the municipality. This leaves as options the planned withdrawal of infrastructure or resistance until the waves dictate the end. Erosion as a structural challenge. Of course, there is a lot more. Cities such as Miami, Barcelona or the Australian Gold Coast face constant sand losses that threaten their beaches, vital for tourism and local economy. In Barcelona, erosion annual 30,000 m³ It is aggravated with each temporary, and although dikes and breakwaters have been added, the setback continues. In the Gold CoastCyclone Alfred in March started so much sand that left stretches of the retaining wall; Restoring the coast will cost three years and 40 million Australian dollars. The dilemma It is global: 10% of the population lives less than 5 km of the coast and urbanization slows the natural flows of sand, aggravating the problem. Rodanthe Steal sand. And yes, even scientists already They have warned On several occasions that sustaining beaches artificially is increasingly difficult and extremely expensive, and that in some cases it would be more sensible to allow the coastline to migrate inland, although socially and politically complex. Gold Coast The dilemma of providing sand. Regeneration It has advantages in front of rigid structures such as retaining walls, which can intensify erosion in adjacent areas. However, it is temporary and its duration depends on local geology, climate and human pressure: some beaches require new contributions every two years, others last a decade. In the United States, where it has been applied for a century, they have been treated almost 600 beachesreaching a maximum of 50 million m³ in 2019. The problem? That the search for proper sand It is complicated: In North Carolina, local reserves are exhausted, in Miami transport is used from inside, and environmental objections, such as marine habitats, delay projects. Plus: Powerful storms can erase millionaire investments. Perspectives and answers. In places with moderate erosion or abundant reserves, such as the Netherlands, regeneration is a State policy: The country invests the 0.3% of your GDP Annual in flood risk management and has 12 million m³ of sand available every year, sufficient to protect entire cities. On the other hand, in areas with severe erosion and overflowing costs, planned withdrawal can be the only viable output, implying controlled expropriations and demolitions. The Times told that in Rodanthe, the National Parks Service acquired and demolished two houses valued in millions to return the land to public use, but There are no funds For more purchases. Many residents, aware of living in the “land of changing sands”, assume that the sea will gain ground and prepare to sell when the water reaches wetlands. Battle against time (and economy). In short, the Sand scarcityits increase and the increase in coastal erosion draw a future in which to keep the current beaches looks like it is unfeasible for many communities. Although Regeneration It remains the preferred option to protect local properties and economies, its physical, financial and environmental limits. rethink strategies. The dilemma between spending more and more to contain the sea or yield terrain to nature will mark the future of much of the inhabited coasts, and the margin of maneuver is narrowed as the climate and the demand for sand accelerate the process. Image | Pxhere, Public Domaine, Petra In Xataka | Xàbia set out to end cao chaos and bathers in his most famous coves. Did not go as expected In Xataka | There is only something more abundant than tourists on Spanish beaches: Asian algae are becoming a huge problem

The bathers have always seen the sea shells as an innocent souvenir. And that is taking its toll on the beaches

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A shell measures only a few centimeters. Not that, in some cases. That is why it is normal to take a small snail or a valve home seems a harmless act and without the greatest significance. It is. The problem is when that small act is multiplied by thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or thousands of millionswhich adds to the visits that humanity makes to the beaches of the planet over a year. With that data on the table the ‘stolen’ shells to the sands do become a challenge, one capable of even Alter ecosystems. Granite granite is made a beach … And it gets rid. A quick (and devastating) calculation. In the world we live around 8,000 million Of people and (almost) we all share a hobby: go to the beach, take long walks through the sand, sunbathe, bathe and why not? Go home with a little shell in your pocket as a memory. After all, what’s wrong with? The act is innocent if we look only at what we do, but the thing changes when we expand the perspective and we put accounts, which was recently a Florida researcher in An interview with The country. “There are almost 10,000 million visits to beaches annually and almost certainly, Explain Michał Kowalewski, a researcher of specialized in the study of invertebrates. “Let’s say that a shell is collected for every hundred visits, which sounds at little, but even so we would be talking about 10,000 tons of shells that disappear from the beaches every year.” In summary, a full -fledged marine plunder with which several Olympic pools could be filled to the top. Are there more calculations? Yes. A few years ago Kowalewski participated in A study Together with experts from the University of Barcelona (UB) that helps to understand what the bathers take home Conchas. Its analysis is interesting because part of a very concrete sandal, the Saolu Long Beachin Tarragona, where the influx of tourists has triplicate Since 70. To know how that boom is affecting the area, experts compared two samples of shells taken with enough margin: the first data of 1978-1981, the second of 2008-2010. What did they find out? That that greater pressure from the bathers was taking its toll on the Reserve of Conchas. And for worse. “The increase in tourism on the Mediterranean coast is related to a 70% decrease in shells during the tourist season of July and August and 60% the rest of the year,” summary From Ub. The area in which they focused their efforts is interesting because the influx of tourists increased 2.7 times during the study period and the analyzes show that the abundance of shells along the coast fell almost to the same extent, 2.6. Is everything due to tourism? The studypublished in 2023 in the academic magazine Plos Oneemphasizes the influence of tourism and its considerable increase between the end of the 70s and early 21st century, but that is not the only factor that has influenced the beach ecosystem. During the three decades that passed between both samples the urban environment of the beach was altered with new hotels and also varied the use and maintenance of the environment. “The correlation could also respond to the increase in water turbidity because there are more recreational vessels or for organic pollution, or the elimination of shells for daily cleaning services, among other reasons,” They recognize Catalan experts, who insist on the need for “more studies”, especially in areas where tourists look actively for their great view, as in the coast of Florida, the Philippines or Indonesia. Why is it important? Because shells are more than whims of nature or potential souvenirs. “They are not there by chance, they are part of the natural gear that keeps our beaches alive and stable,” Clarify in The country Fernando García, one of those responsible for the Malacological Collection of the National Museum of Natural Sciences. The shells help the sands retain their firmness and resist erosion and even influence the acidity of the water. Much more than souvenirs: homes. “The disappearance of shells could have a significant impact on the natural environment, causing alterations in the stabilization of the coastline and a decrease in the production of carbonated sediments, among others,” Underline in the UB. Not to mention that the shells serve to look more than look in our nightstand. There are birds that use them to build nests and serve as a refuge for different organisms. An extra reason: the law. There is one more reason to think twice to fill the shell pockets. In addition to damaging the environment can damage our economy. As I remembered recently Legal, technically the Coastal Law It does not allow “elements of the maritime-terrestrial public domain” and that includes mollusks, stones, sand and shells. “This activity can lead to a sanction of up to 60,000 euros according to the value of the damage “, warns. “Irreparable damage”. At the beginning of 2022 the Cabildo de Fuerteventura recognized that in just four months (and not precisely high season) the island authorities had seized more than 4,500 kilos of shells, rholites, stones and sand at the airport. Hence, remember the local population and tourists “the importance of avoiding practices such as the plundering of materials.” “Every year the Environment personnel return thousands of kilos of this type of Majorero landscape materials that recover from the plunder at the Fuerteventura airport,” insists The organism, which points out that the most seized material is white sand (640 kg) and black (309 kg). “Insular ecosystems are fragile, so any bad condition can be as irreparable damage.” Images | Carlos Alejo (Flickr) and Art of Hoping (UNSPLASH) In Xataka | The beach of the crystals: Galicia has one of the most fascinating sands in Spain by chance

The summers are so short in Finland that he has accepted a guest to enjoy the beaches: kilos of poop

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A few months ago, the Finnish nation was proclaimed for the eighth time the country Happy on the planet. Then we saw that nothing is perfect, because while it happened, the United States landed to prepare them next Battle for the Arctic. And between one thing and another, summer has reached its beaches. As always, it will not be very long, and this year is accompanied by an exorbitant amount of excrement. Brief and disputed. I told this week The New York Times. In a country where summer lasts just two months and the sun becomes a scarce good, every warm day is almost like a miracle. Helsinki, like the rest of the country, lives those weeks with intensity: crowded beaches, whole bicycle families and citizens anxious to take advantage of temperatures that in any other place would seem soft, but that exceed historical records here. However, in that space of evasion an unexpected intruder has appeared: the Barnaclas geeseRobust and gregarious birds that have colonized parks, avenues and, above all, the beaches of the capital. His MASIV PRESENCEA (more than 5,000 accounted for in the area last summer) has transformed the outdoor life into a constant surveillance exercise, where walkers must measure each step so as not to sink into excrements that accumulate in surprising quantities. The daily excrement. The problem, although an anecdotal in appearance, directly affects the enjoyment of a summer that the Finns consider sacred. On the beaches, before extending the towel you have to Check the groundVolley players pray not to land Bruces in a brown puddle, and parents watch with anguish that their young children do not confuse manure with sand or grass. The Times told That, in the parks, the lawn is upholstered with feces that are embedded in the soles, and in the central avenues the geese cross pedestrians with the same naturalness as the beatles very Beatles in Abbey Road. The figures illustrate the magnitude of the challenge: on some beaches, maintenance personnel collect more than 20 kg of excrement per daya volume that requires whole crews of seasonal workers, multiplied in the last decade. Failed innovations. For years, the Helsinki City Council has tested methods To contain the plague. They tried to mix the stool with the sand, but the water ended up contaminated. They used recordings of sea eagles to scare birds, but the geese got used to it soon. It was even studied to hire trained dogs, as other cities do, although they were too expensive and little available. The Great hope This summer was a machine designed by the maintenance team itself. A kind of sieve with wheels, similar to a manual corteped, which had to separate the feces from the sand. The problem? In practice it was Heavy and ineffective In humid soils, and ended up relegated to a warehouse. In the end, the most reliable resource remains the most rudimentary: shovel, gum gloves and infinite patience. Inevitable coexistence. The battle against geese, however, is limited by legislation and Finnish ethics: urban hunting or mass sacrifice is not allowed, such as in Canada or California, where transfers or culeing. In Helsinki, geese are not only a nuisance, but already part of the summer landscape, inserted in the urban imaginary and the daily routine of its inhabitants. In fact, the workers who collect the manure find a certain serenity in the repetitive task (although the smell persecutes them later). The reality is that, in a country where summer is too short to waste it, the Finns seem to accept this uncomfortable invasion as a price to pay to enjoy its beaches. With humor and stoicism, they have assumed that between the sun, water and sand there will always be a third guest: the omnipresent goose … and its inevitable trace. Image | JIP In Xataka | Finland is the happiest country in the world. And is also preparing thoroughly for the most unhappy end: war In Xataka | Finland has found a cheap way to store energy all winter: a tower of 2,000 tons of sand

The rent has risen so much in Galicia that its beaches have problems hiring something fundamental: lifeguards

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The tourism industry has faced for a long time A worrying dilemma In Spain (as in other countries): as its main destinations grow and gain attractive, The price goes up of the accommodation, which makes things more and more difficult for workers who support the sector. We have seen it In Tenerifewhere there are hoteliers who are forced to Sleep in caravans For the high cost of rentals. And we see it now In Galiciawhere housing is affecting an even more sensitive group: lifeguards. Although in the official registry of the community there are registered Thousands of lifeguards Prepared to monitor the beaches, some locations are costing to sign them. And one of the reasons is the high price of rentals on the coast. Costs. The news He has revealed it The Galician mail: Although the official registration of the Xunta has more than 4,500 inscribed lifeguards, a record that exceeds 13% to those accounted for in 2024, there are areas of Galicia in which it is not easy to “sign” professionals. It is not a general something. In fact there are municipalities that have covered their vacancies well. But there are certain points in the region in which not even this abundance assures them to find vigilantes. And what is the reason? There are several factors at stake. Input, how the population is distributed. Not all municipalities have the same bag of inhabitants and, therefore, of neighbors with the lifeguard title willing to cover sand sands that remain close to their homes. Another key is working conditions. The salaries are around 1,200 euros per month, according to Precise The Galician mailand they are hired for very short periods, from two to three months. These circumstances lead to professionals who choose to move to other more southern or warm destinations, such as the Canary Islands or Andalusia, in which they can opt for six -month jobs or for full years. To solve it there are those who even has raised The possibility of betting on “a permanent body” of lifeguards who cover the heat months, more extensive. Another handicap that affects the sector is the bureaucracy: the longer the aid takes, the greater the risk that the lifeguards have sought alternatives. Housing slopes. The above are, together with the regulatory issues of the sector, the factors that have marked the guild in Galicia in recent years and explain that the region has suffered shortage of lifeguards. Now one more factor comes into play. The mail assures that this summer the consistors are proving easier to sign vigilants, but where the reason has been found with difficulties is another: the housing price, In full climb. The general price increase in Galicia as a whole, 7.1% in the last year According to idealistadded to the high seasonal demand of coastal destinations during the summer months, Galician lifeguards who have to leave their locality and rent a floor. In practice that hinders hiring in localities that have to ‘import’ lifeguards out. Is the house so expensive? A few days ago Technitas published A report in which he points out that an 85 m2 apartment on Riazor beach (A Coruña) reaches € 1,400 per week, one hundred more than last year. In Vicedo (Lugo) a 65 m2 floor costs 650 euros, one hundred more than a year ago, and in O Grove (Pontevedra) a 75 m2 house requires a disbursement of 950 euros per week. The report speaks of vacation leases, but that scenario fully affects seasonal professionals who, like lifeguards, seek accommodation for a few months. Beyond Galicia. It is not a problem that affects only Galicia. Recently Antena3 He spoke With José Luis, a lifeguard who has been in Ibiza for 25 years and who has not left any choice but to buy a caravan to have a place to live. Renting an apartment is discarded, he explains, because it costs more than he earns with his watchman work. Even the caravan option begins to complicate. “Being in a campsite costs me about 1,800 euros per month.” “This is something that happens throughout Spain and the most affected places are the ones with the greatest tourist influx, such as Balearic Islands, Valencian Community and some areas of Andalusia and Catalonia,” Confirm to The mail José Palacios, coordinator of the Research Group in Aquatic Activities and Saporrism and President of DEAC, the entity responsible for granting the blue flags to the sand. Healing in health. To make sure they will have lifeguards there are consistories that directly choose to form them. This is the case of Ribeira, in the Barbanza region, which in 2024 and 2025 He has conducted courses Own who have allowed him to prepare the young people who will be in charge of controlling the sands of the region. Another strategy to prevent them from opting for less seasonal destinations is to expand their work period: instead of hiring them in July, they are incorporated into their positions in June, when many beaches of Galicia begin to fill. Images | Pedro Dias (Flickr) and Carmelo Peciña (Flickr) In Xataka | “Fodechinchos Free”: in a bar in Galicia Tourism Fobia is being redirected against the Spaniards of other regions

Some geologists studied the sand of one of the beaches of day D in Normandy. They discovered that 4% is still shrapnel

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More than 80 years have passed from “Day D” And yet his memory is still very present on the beaches of Normandy. And not in an ethereal and symbolic way. No. Beyond memory, the landing of allied troops in the French region in June 1944 maintains a palpable footprint in its sand. One that can be touched and seen, although for the latter an electronic microscope is needed. This was checked by a group of geologists who collected a sand sample on the beach of Omaha. When taking her to her laboratory and studying it in detail, they bought, amazed, that 4% were actually remains of shrapnel. A microscopic memory of a historical date. Normandy walk. That is what they did a good day of 1988, the Geology professor Earle McBridefrom the University of Texas in Austin, and its colleague Dane Picard, of the University of Utah. While doing a field study in France decided to take a break and visit the famous Omaha beachone of the main landing points of the day D in Normandy. They did not have much luck with their Norman trip. The day they walked through the sand, around eight kilometers long, it was disappeared, cold and windy; But that did not prevent McBride and Picard to take home a memory that honored his formation: a small sand sample. Some time later they decided to rescue the bag with those grains of Normandy and observe them under the microscope. And the surprise came. What McBride found in that sample of sand collected in Omaha Beach caught his attention. In addition to quartz remains and other materials that it already gave, the geologist observed tiny Metal fragments. When studying them in detail with the microscope he found that they had a rounded shape, they were rough, laminated and an opaque brightness, with some oxide points. Some pieces were around the millimeter. Others did not go from 0.06 mm. The remains of the battle. Thus, reduced to millimetric metal accounts eroded by waves and the passage of time, perhaps they were difficult to identify, but McBride ended up reaching a fascinating conclusion. What I had before them were vestiges of Normandy landing. “They turned out to be a shrapnel of the invasion of World War II. After a more detained exam, he also saw iron and glass accounts that had resulted from the intense heat unleashed by the explosions in the air and the sand,” They detail From the University of Texas in Austin. So curious was his finding that, together with PicardProfessor McBride decided to prepare An article and publish it in the magazine The sedimentary record. Foreseeable. “Of course it is not surprising that the sand of the beach of Omaha be added at the time of battle, but it is that it has survived more than 40 years and without a doubt it is still there today,” They commented Both experts. His sample was from the end of the 80s and The report They published it in 2011; But everything indicates that the situation remains the same today. In 2011 experts They calculated that corrosion would still take a century to destroy shrapnel grains. A well mesurable footprint. If McBride and Picard’s study is surprising, it is because it has done more than verifying that – discussion after day D – through the Normandy beaches, remains of shrapnel are still distributed. So or more curious is that experts have managed to contribute a fairly precise idea what this footprint represents in the sand. After examining the exhibition in detail, the Texas geologist found that metals represent 4% of the sand. The data is illustrative, although McBride and Picard slide that there could be variations depending on where and when the sand is collected. “Due to the possible plasticization of shrapnel and heavy minerals by the waves and currents the day we collected our sample, we do not know to what extent it is representative of the sand of the beach as a whole.” The Omaha was one of the great landing points of day D, but there were other beaches in Normandy to which the allies arrived in the Neptune operationknown as Utah, Sword, Gold and Juno. Date of expiration. Although the accounts discovered by American geologists are a peculiar memory of the day and have survived decades, McBride and Picard have already noticed years ago that they will not last forever. The remains of shrapnel could resist erosion for millennity, but when the grains study the geologists discovered oxide particles, which leads them to be pessimistic about their future. “The waves stir the iron fragments, which in turn eliminates part of the oxide and exposes fresh material, more prone to oxidation, which in turn follows, and so on,” Point out The University of Texas. “The result is that they will become smaller and in the end the storms or hurries will drag them and take out of the beach,” McBride reflected in 2011. His calculations pointed out that 4% of shrapnel identified in Omaha Beach would be reduced to insignificance in a century. They will remain to remember the allied landing, yes, monuments and memory. Image | Person-With-No Name (Flickr) In Xataka | The US landed on an empty island during World War II. In nine days it had more than 300 casualties *An earlier version of this article was published in June 2024

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