A new video published by the content creator Shannis on the social network has reopened the debate about the impact of tourism on the biodiversity of Lanzarote and the rest of the Canary Islands through the dissemination of irresponsible actions.
The influencer uploaded a video, which accumulates 110,000 views and more than 2,700 shares, in which she appears taking a volcanic stone from her bag in Costa Teguise and saying: "I am in Lanzarote and I am taking a piece of volcano as a souvenir... you'll see about checking this in."
Despite the Sevillian content creator bases her content on a humorous tone, this action has raised blisters among many Canarians. A large part of the comments reproached the influencer for having uploaded this video with comments such as "leave the stone where you found it, "the stones are part of the island's ecosystem, let's not normalize this because if every visitor who comes does that. we are breaking everything" or "you cannot take it, it is forbidden and they can fine you".
For her part, Shannis responded to one of the comments assuring that she did not take the stone. "I had to let it go, I gave it a little kiss and left it," she indicated.
However, this type of actions that are published on social media (even if it's in the form of humor) incites tourists to imitate this behavior and take stones, rofe, jable from the beach or any other type of element from the Canarian ecosystem.
Last summer, a woman took geological material from areas such as Charco de Los Clicos or the one known as Playa de Las Palomitas, in Fuerteventura. In the video, a woman was seen ripping out a handful of stones from the reddish rock formations found in the El Golfo area.
On another occasion, a tourist waiting in line to access Timanfaya National Park was recorded while picking up stones next to the edge of the road. Both actions are totally illegal, which can lead to fines. In fact, tourists take more than a ton of rofe or stones annually from Lanzarote's natural spaces.
People who are caught in flagrante delicto are usually sanctioned for minor offenses (from 150 to 600 euros) and serious ones (600 to 3,000 euros), with very serious ones being less frequent.
