Latest news with #environmental catastrophe
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Science
- The Guardian
Thousands of tons of invasive seaweed ‘overwhelming' Spanish beaches
Thousands of tonnes of an aggressive invasive seaweed from south-east Asia are piling up on the beaches of the strait of Gibraltar and Spain's southern coast in what local environmentalists say is a major threat to the region's biodiversity. Since May, the local authority in Cádiz has removed 1,200 tonnes of the alga Rugulopteryx okamurae from La Caleta, the city's most popular beach, including 78 tonnes in a single day. 'We're completely overwhelmed. This is an environmental catastrophe,' said José Carlos Teruel, responsible for Cádiz city council's beaches. 'Whenever the wind is westerly, we know we're in for another wave of seaweed.' As with many other invasive marine species, the alga is thought to arrive in the ballast tanks of ships which pass through the Suez canal and then discharge their tanks in the Mediterranean. In little more than a decade the species has colonised the strait of Gibraltar, much of Spain's southern coast, the Canary Islands, the Azores, and, farther north, the Cantabrian sea and the Basque Country. 'It was first spotted 10 years ago in Ceuta, Spain's north African enclave, by a researcher from Málaga university, but the authorities are always too slow to react,' said Juan José Vergara, a professor of biology at the University of Cádiz. 'In the first phase of an invasion such as this it can be controlled. It's like catching cancer early on before it spreads,' Vergara said, adding that what washes ashore is a fraction of what is underwater. 'But now the scale of it makes it impossible to control. In other seaweed invasions we've seen things revert to normal after a period of 10-15 years but many scientists say they've never seen an invasion on this scale.' The seaweed is having a major impact on the local economy, firstly on tourism in Cádiz and nearby Tarifa, a town popular with windsurfers, and on fishing because it traps fishers' nets and lines and also sucks oxygen out of the water. Then there's the cost to the taxpayer of disposing of it. Perhaps most worrying is its impact on biodiversity. On the beach at La Caleta, the seaweed has driven out many indigenous plants. It is unclear whether the damage is temporary or irreversible. The alga attaches itself to rocks and other surfaces and is also free-floating, wiping out native species of seaweed. It has no predators in the region and its capacity to reproduce both sexually and asexually and to absorb toxins makes it virtually impossible to eradicate, experts say. At present the seaweed is dumped in landfill sites. Vergara said a local business that recycles seaweed into drinks containers or to use as fuel and fertiliser has sought permission to use Rulopteryx okamuraeas as a biomass to produce energy. However, Spain's law on invasive species prohibits their commercial exploitation unless they pose a threat to health and safety or to further their eradication, a caveat that would seem to apply to Rulopteryx okamuraeas. This week the government in Andalucía launched a four-part plan to confront the crisis based on research, monitoring and education, and which includes options for recycling the seaweed. To use it as biomass the regional government will have to negotiate with Spain's environment ministry but Vergara said that even if an agreement is reached, it can only be part of the solution. 'It's an interesting idea but I doubt it will be able to eradicate or even significantly diminish the intensity of the invasion when hundreds of thousands of tonnes can wash up on a single beach,' he said.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Science
- The Guardian
Thousands of tons of invasive seaweed ‘overwhelming' Spanish beaches
Thousands of tonnes of an aggressive invasive seaweed from south-east Asia are piling up on the beaches of the strait of Gibraltar and Spain's southern coast in what local environmentalists say is a major threat to the region's biodiversity. Since May, the local authority in Cádiz has removed 1,200 tonnes of the alga Rugulopteryx okamurae from La Caleta, the city's most popular beach, including 78 tonnes in a single day. 'We're completely overwhelmed. This is an environmental catastrophe,' said José Carlos Teruel, responsible for Cádiz city council's beaches. 'Whenever the wind is westerly, we know we're in for another wave of seaweed.' As with many other invasive marine species, the alga is thought to arrive in the ballast tanks of ships which pass through the Suez canal and then discharge their tanks in the Mediterranean. In little more than a decade the species has colonised the strait of Gibraltar, much of Spain's southern coast, the Canary Islands, the Azores, and, farther north, the Cantabrian sea and the Basque Country. 'It was first spotted 10 years ago in Ceuta, Spain's north African enclave, by a researcher from Málaga university, but the authorities are always too slow to react,' said Juan José Vergara, a professor of biology at the University of Cádiz. 'In the first phase of an invasion such as this it can be controlled. It's like catching cancer early on before it spreads,' Vergara said, adding that what washes ashore is a fraction of what is underwater. 'But now the scale of it makes it impossible to control. In other seaweed invasions we've seen things revert to normal after a period of 10-15 years but many scientists say they've never seen an invasion on this scale.' The seaweed is having a major impact on the local economy, firstly on tourism in Cádiz and nearby Tarifa, a town popular with windsurfers, and on fishing because it traps fishers' nets and lines and also sucks oxygen out of the water. Then there's the cost to the taxpayer of disposing of it. Perhaps most worrying is its impact on biodiversity. On the beach at La Caleta, the seaweed has driven out many indigenous plants. It is unclear whether the damage is temporary or irreversible. The alga attaches itself to rocks and other surfaces and is also free-floating, wiping out native species of seaweed. It has no predators in the region and its capacity to reproduce both sexually and asexually and to absorb toxins makes it virtually impossible to eradicate, experts say. At present the seaweed is dumped in landfill sites. Vergara said a local business that recycles seaweed into drinks containers or to use as fuel and fertiliser has sought permission to use Rulopteryx okamuraeas as a biomass to produce energy. However, Spain's law on invasive species prohibits their commercial exploitation unless they pose a threat to health and safety or to further their eradication, a caveat that would seem to apply to Rulopteryx okamuraeas. This week the government in Andalucía launched a four-part plan to confront the crisis based on research, monitoring and education, and which includes options for recycling the seaweed. To use it as biomass the regional government will have to negotiate with Spain's environment ministry but Vergara said that even if an agreement is reached, it can only be part of the solution. 'It's an interesting idea but I doubt it will be able to eradicate or even significantly diminish the intensity of the invasion when hundreds of thousands of tonnes can wash up on a single beach,' he said.
The Independent
5 days ago
- The Independent
Sri Lankan court orders owners of container ship to pay $1 billion in marine pollution compensation
Sri Lanka's top court on Thursday ordered the owners of a Singapore-flagged container ship that sank near its capital to pay $1 billion in compensation to the island nation's government for causing the most severe marine environment catastrophe in the country's history. The container ship MV X-Press Peal, which was carrying chemicals, sank off Colombo in June, 2021 after catching fire. The Supreme Court said the incident caused 'unprecedented devastation to the marine environment of Sri Lanka' and harmed the country's economy, especially the lives of the fishing communities. Judges said the disaster led to the death of 417 turtles, 48 dolphins, eight whales and a large number of fish species that washed ashore after the incident. Debris from the ship, including several tons of plastic pellets used to make plastic bags, caused severe pollution on beaches. 'This marine environmental disaster constitutes the largest recorded marine plastic spill in the world,' the judgement said. 'It resulted in the widespread release of toxic and hazardous substances into the marine environment, poisoning ocean waters, killing marine species, and destructing phytoplankton." Due to the severe marine pollution, the government imposed a fishing ban for well over a year, depriving fishermen of their income and livelihood. The incident "continues to cause destruction and harm to Sri Lanka's marine environment,' said the judgement, signed by five supreme court judges. The judgement was given against the X-Press Pearl group that included ship's registered owner, EOS Ro Pte. Limited, and other charterers. All are based in Singapore. An agent in Sri Lanka, Sea Consortium Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd., was also named. The court said it has sufficient reasons to hold that X-Press Pearl group 'should be held accountable and liable under the Polluter Pays Principle for the pollution caused by the MV X-Press Pearl vessel.' It said the owner, operators and local agent of the ship were all liable for the payment of compensation, which should be used to restore and protect the affected marine and coastal environment. There was no immediate comment on the judgement from the owner or agent of the vessel. The court ruling came after several parties, including environment campaigners and fisher rights groups, filed litigation seeking compensation.
