The Department of Fisheries of the Cabildo of Lanzarote launches the first action of this year to control the populations of the sea urchin of Lima. This time it will be the coast of Marina Rubicón, in Playa Blanca, the area chosen to act. Afterwards, it will continue through other areas of the coast in La Graciosa and Punta Mujeres.
The control program will begin on Sunday, March 28, starting at 10:30 in the morning, with the participation of various diving centers and clubs and some 40 volunteers who join the initiative, in addition to the Minister of Fisheries, Nereida Pérez, who will be present.
This program of actions, which seeks the protection and recovery of marine biodiversity in three rocky bottoms, is possible thanks to a collaboration agreement between the Cabildo of Lanzarote and the Vice-Ministry of Fisheries of the Government of the Canary Islands, launched in 2008 and in which work is carried out continuously annually. The project to control the populations of these urchins will end in September.
"We are pleased to be able to continue with this control program because we are already beginning to see the results. Only in the case of Playa Blanca, in the area where we are going to act, a considerable recovery of the seabed is detected; the urchins have been reduced by 90 percent, the algae have grown both in size and in number of feet, especially the brown algae that in some places are already several centimeters high, and the fauna has shown a significant increase with starfish, roosterfish, black seabream and sargo bream", says the Minister of Fisheries, Nereida Pérez.