The business sector of Lanzarote has also wanted to show its rejection of the development of aquaculture in the tourist areas of the island, thus joining the position expressed by the Cabildo and by the municipalities affected by the regulations promoted by the Canary Islands Government. "The risk of installing marine cages in front of tourist centers endangers the economic activity of many companies and self-employed workers due to the visual impact and the degradation of water quality", warns the employers.
In addition, it defends that "there are other areas on the island where this activity can be developed, considered as an opportunity for economic diversification, without the need to attack an industry that works, tourism".
In this regard, they recall that the Lanzarote Tourism Federation, Asolan and the Lanzarote and La Graciosa Chamber of Commerce already presented allegations to the provisional approval of the Regional Plan for the Management of Aquaculture in 2014, which were rejected by the Government of the Canary Islands, then presided over by Coalición Canaria, "as it did not consider that there was an impact of one activity on the other". "Today, seven years later, the incompatibility becomes evident", add the business associations, a month after the Executive approved the detailed planning to develop that Plan, which established an area of aquaculture interest from La Bufona, in Arrecife, to the tip of Barranquillo, in Puerto del Carmen.
Thirteen affected beaches
"The blue economy is, together with the green economy, a nuclear axis for the long-awaited economic diversification. However, not at any price. Installing animal farms in front of the best beaches is an attack on common sense, the environment and an economy battered by Covid-19. The areas designated for this activity are located precisely between La Bufona and El Barranquillo. Thirteen beaches affected in this section, of which five have a blue flag that they would lose in a short time: Playa del Reducto, Matagorda, Pocillos, Playa Grande and La Barrilla", warns the employers.
In addition, it emphasizes that according to the report “Impact of Aquaculture on the tourism sector of Tenerife”, aquaculture "has been presented to us as a clean industry, but its cages produce discharges of residual products typical of intensive animal exploitation".
"The presence of microorganisms, sometimes pathogens such as bacteria and parasites, can cause harmful infections for the animals themselves and everything around them", he adds, demanding that "its development be carried out in other less sensitive areas and in a controlled manner", in "existing spaces that have proven to be suitable for this work".
For all these reasons, the business sector has filed an optional appeal for reversal to the order of February 11, 2021 published in the BOC of March 1 so that the decision declaring the ZIA LZ-2 within the Regional Plan for the Management of Aquaculture of the Canary Islands (PROAC) is reconsidered.
