The General Directorate of Fisheries of the Government of the Canary Islands has approved the Detailed Ordinance of the LZ-2 Aquaculture Interest Zone, which will allow the installation of marine cages throughout the coastline between La Bufona and Punta del Barranquillo, in Puerto del Carmen.
The resolution was published on March 1 and develops the provisions of the Canary Islands Aquaculture Ordinance Plan, approved in July 2018. This document established up to five areas of interest for aquaculture in Lanzarote, three of them in Playa Blanca, another between Las Cucharas beach in Costa Teguise and the Islote del Francés in Arrecife and the fifth between La Bufona and Punta de El Baranquillo, which is the most extensive and the one that has just been ordered.
In total, the area covers more than 12 million square meters and affects three municipalities: Arrecife, San Bartolomé and Tías. The approval of the Detailed Ordinance, as indicated in the resolution, is the “prior requirement for the implementation of aquaculture establishments” and “its purpose is the ordering, with sufficient detail, of marine areas delimited by the PROAC as Aquaculture Interest Zones.”
Regarding future projects that may now be implemented, it indicates that “they will be authorized based on the Canary Islands Fisheries Law” and that “the granting of aquaculture concessions is subject to the simplified Environmental Impact Assessment procedure.”
The document underlines that these Areas of Interest were defined in places “where the positive factors for aquaculture implementation occur to a greater or lesser extent”, such as “proximity to ports, existence of a fishermen's association in its area of interaction or area of influence, provision of land transport and communications infrastructure, provision of industrial land use and proximity to the airport”, as well as “existence of concessions or demand for their installation.”
In addition, it explains that “the allocation of the aquaculture use of all the Units will be granted to the beneficiaries of the Project Competition, through a procedure for granting enabling titles.”
An appeal may be filed against the order published in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands, which is currently on public display, both before the administration itself and in the contentious-administrative jurisdiction.
