Wednesday, April 26, 2023, 01:02
The Mar Menor oozes again. The ova crust that is spreading on the surface presents another problem for fishermen, especially in the southern basin of the lagoon, where the biomass has created a beret over the ecosystem. “If before we set ten nets, now we set half, because more arms would be needed,” explains Antonio Jesús López, a fisherman from the Mar Menor.
The sticky ova forces to double the maintenance of the fishing gear. They take more days to clean them and, therefore, reduce their extraction capacity. “We have to let them dry in the sun until the layer breaks, and then we start scrubbing inch by inch, so we have immobilized nets for longer,” says the fisherman. Known as Antonio ‘El del Estacio’, he is one of the fishermen who worked last year collecting biomass offshore.
more than last year
This spring, the fishermen comment that they find more eggs than last year, when the company contracted by the Autonomous Community extracted 32,000 tons – in 2022 and until March 2023 – which cost 11.7 million euros.
“It is verifiable proof of an excess of nutrients,” explains Juan Manuel Ruiz, a scientist at the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO), an expert in marine plants. Regarding the influence of the premature heat of this year, he clarifies that “it is difficult to separate the influence of heat and nutrients on organisms”, since, in fact, he assures that “the egg also develops in cold months”.
The impact produced by that vegetal layer detached from the bottom, which rises to the surface driven by the bubbles, is not appreciable, according to the scientist. “It has no effect, unless it is made permanent, but those islands of algae move and cast shadows, like a cloud,” he says.
two contracts
The split of the Ministry of the Environment from that of Fisheries – united until 2022 – will cause the Government to tender two contracts this year for the same purpose, one for cleaning the shores and another for offshore. The Environment has hired 4 brigades of 5 workers each to remove algae from the coast of Los Alcázares, Los Urrutias, Los Nietos and El Pedruchillo. In total, it will cost 1,255,000 euros until May 8, when a new contract of almost 3 million euros with 20 brigades comes into force, which is equivalent to 100 workers removing ova from the beaches until August 31. They have already removed more than 2,800 tons of biomass from the coast this year.
Related News
For its part, Agriculture and Fisheries has contracted a sea egg removal service that has been operating since March 10. It has already extracted 80 tons, mainly from the southern basin. Pesca finalizes the next contract to eliminate biomass offshore for the next 6 months, with an investment of 3.3 million euros and about 40 workers.
Ciudadanos denounces “the disastrous management of the PP, which does nothing, and the oblivion of the PSOE, which does not invest what it promises.” “Four years after the anoxia chapter, only cosmetic measures are being undertaken, such as the removal of ova,” says the candidate for the presidency of the Community, María José Ros, who met yesterday with representatives of the defense groups of the Mar Menor to assume the decalogue of protection measures for the lagoon.
#egg #layer #complicates #fishing #Mar #Menor #warns #excess #nutrients