The number of lifeguards and the lack of separate waste collection have been the reasons why the Association for Environmental and Consumer Education (ADEAC) has withdrawn the blue flags that it had awarded just three months ago to the beaches of Los Pocillos, Matagorda and Pila de la Barrilla (Playa Chica) in Puerto del Carmen, as revealed on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero by the Councilor for Tourism and Beaches of Tías, Mame Fernández, who said he "does not understand" this decision.
"One of the reasons seems to be that more lifeguards are needed," said the councilor, who nevertheless considers that "the beaches are covered with the current lifeguard service." "Everything can be improved obviously and what we want is, instead of seven that we currently have, to put fifteen lifeguards, but those fifteen have to be paid," said Fernández, stating that "the budget is what it is" and that 405,000 euros are already allocated to this service.
"What are not accounts are stories and you have to have money in the box to be able to offer an excellent service as Blue Flag says, but I think that what we have is quality, which is a good service, although everything can be improved, I insist," added Fernández.
Separate waste collection, "a lie"
The "other fundamental reason" for the withdrawal of the blue flags on the beaches of Puerto del Carmen, which only maintains that of Playa Grande, has been "due to separate waste collection." And, according to the councilor, the City Council has removed the containers that were there for it on the beaches. However, Mame Fernández assures that if it has been done it is because really "this separate collection has never been done" and the ADEAC was being "deceived."
"Do you know what was done? Those containers were collected and the same employee emptied them into a normal, larger trash can, and put them together with the rest of the garbage, it was not recycled," said the Councilor for Beaches, clarifying that "the recycling service is the responsibility of the Cabildo."
"So, here the non-compliance passes through all the town councils, which we have to get our act together, and through the Cabildo, which must increase that separate collection included on the beaches, not only in the containers that are on public roads," added Mame Fernández, who believes that it is time to "stop being patient and being hypocritical and do a real separate collection" and "not deceive ADEAC, our neighbors and the environment, which we have destroyed."
However, the Councilor for Beaches of Tías claims to have been "surprised" with the withdrawal of the blue flags. And, he has defended that the City Council has invested "more than 300,000 euros" in the beaches in the last two years, "apart from the 405,000 euros in lifeguard contracts." "We do not understand the reasons, but we have no choice but to continue working to improve those services," said Mame Fernández.
Lack of hammocks on the beaches
On the other hand, the councilor has spoken about the complaint of the Lanzarote Tourism Federation, which on the one hand has complained about the "lack" of taxis on the island to meet the current demand of tourists and on the other about the "lack of hammocks" on the beaches of Puerto del Carmen.
On this last issue, the councilor has explained that permission was requested from Costas for its installation in 2020 but that "it has arrived now." "A year that it has taken for the permits to arrive, another thing that must be said loud and clear, that many times the civil servants are very comfortable and do not make decisions out of fear or because they do not want to work most of them," Fernández has criticized, stating that the problem that exists currently is that "the management document for the hammocks is over and that now nobody is presenting themselves to take a service that is loss-making."
However, the councilor hopes that the hammocks can return to the beaches in the autumn. "Let's see if in October we are able to have that service on the beaches and if not before with a more local measure, because we have hammocks in the warehouses and the possibility of a momentary own management, which is my idea too," he has indicated.
With respect to the taxi service, Fernández has explained that, with the pandemic, the taxi service was regulated in "all the municipalities and at the airport" so that "the even licenses were working on even days and the odd ones, the odd ones." And now we will have to recover all the licenses and try to prevent those queues from happening, which have always happened, during the pandemic and before the pandemic," he has pointed out.
Message to the tourism association
However, Mame Fernández has also sent a message to the Lanzarote Tourism Federation. "To the tourism association, which does not represent all the businessmen, but only a few because the rest are not associated, we also tell them to do their job and provide the carbon footprint data that we have requested from them for some time. While taking out one note and another, they may have also had time to provide those data that tourism, today, is asking us for"
"We had problems with the occupancy data and now with these data, which I do not know why they do not provide them to us quickly, although I can imagine it," added Fernández, who considers that the association and the City Council must "work hand in hand." "I believe in the tourism business community and in general, and we all have to get our act together to be able to improve the situation of the island, the employment contracts, the payments of all the workers and have an island in very good social welfare," he concluded.
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