48 Spanish beaches shamed with ‘black flag’ awards

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - As millions gear up for holidays on the Spanish coast this year, the NGO Ecologists in Action handed out its ‘black flag’ awards on Tuesday to 48 beaches suffering from pollution or ecological mismanagement.

After surveying 8,000 km (4,971 miles) of Spanish coast, the NGO found that the most common causes for alarm were the dumping or leakage of waste products including sewage, excessive urbanization in coastal areas and environmental mismanagement.

For instance, in Cadiz, rampant, uncontrolled development around the resort town of El Palmar, where untreated wastewater is released into natural water bodies, has led to the pollution of beaches around the area. The non-profit also pointed out that Spain is being sanctioned by the EU for failing to treat wastewater from five towns with more than 2,000 people.

On beaches in Tarragona, another plague abounds: microplastics. One study found that those waters had an abnormally high concentration of plastic pollution, likely coming from cities and nearby industries, particularly the petrochemical factories in the area.

“The threat [of microplastics] is twofold: the environmental impact of it on the sea and the plastic being consumed by fish and shellfish and entering into the food chain,” said the report.

Perhaps the most alarming degradation of any beach is occurring in the Mar Menor in Murcia, which the NGO described as “on the verge of collapse.”

The report named the agricultural sector as fueling the beach’s destruction as fertilizers and other waste products reach the sea and cause algae blooms, which has led to the mass death of fish in the sea in recent years.

The NGO also warned about the use of sunscreen, saying it is particularly a problem around the Malaga town of Nerja. There, the influx of lathered up tourists and the relatively low mobility of the sea in the area mean an important threat to the area’s biodiversity.

Other beaches from the Canary Islands to Mallorca, from North to South, were called out for a huge variety of human activity that is damaging the health of not only the environment, but also the humans who enjoy it.

Although the 48 worst offenders were named, the NGO said “unfortunately, there could have been a lot more included” and urged for better government regulation.