More than 20 years of operation of marine cages in Playa Quemada with a concession that ended on August 2, 2021, but is still active, which began with 10 cages and currently has 53 and went from fattening tuna to farming sea bream and sea bass, "has dire consequences." This has been warned again by the Yaiza City Council, which has presented a new report, the third it has commissioned and paid for in recent years so that the Government of the Canary Islands adopts, "at last, forceful measures that lead to the immediate cessation of the activity."
That is what the Institution presided over by Óscar Noda is pursuing, who after learning the result of the scientific study commissioned to the NGO Innoceana, which among other conclusions warns about "the great regression of the seagrass beds taking into account the historical cartography and the accumulation of mud on the seabed", announces that "we are going to send the study to the Vice-Ministry of Fisheries and to all the extremes that are needed, to see who is going to respond to us and is on the side of the residents of Playa Quemada, who have been suffering the ravages of an uncontrolled and disproportionate activity for 20 years, and who is not."
The Yaiza House of Culture hosted this Wednesday the presentation of the report explained by Berta Felipe, environmentalist from the technical team of Innoceana who between the months of April and July carried out the different phases of the investigation. The state of the seagrass bed found in the area is in a state of regression, with a large coverage of cyanobacteria, and this indicates that there is an excess of nutrients in the area due to the feed with which the fish are fed, apart from the excrement of the animals, which accelerate the growth of these microscopic organisms, forming authentic "masses of cyanobacteria" that grow on the seagrass bed.
“Seagrass beds are a marine plant allied against climate change as it produces oxygen, captures CO2, is a source of biodiversity, and is also of interest to the fishing industry, and also to tourism, as it generates crystal clear and clean waters and attracts people to see all the biodiversity that can be found,” explained Berta Felipe, accompanied at the table by the southern mayor, the Councilor for the Environment of Yaiza, Águeda Cedrés, and the marine scientist of Innoceana Maggie Seida.
It is evident that the rapid growth in the number of cages together with the change in breeding species continues to negatively impact Playa Quemada. Óscar Noda was quite clear in confirming the municipal objective: “what I hope is that we are attended to and that definitive measures are taken because there are protected species. The protection of our territory should not only be about what is seen, but is also on the seabed,” missing the support for Yaiza from supramunicipal institutions and various environmental groups and defenders of the territory and the environment.
The scientific recommendations are clear: immediate cessation of activity in Playa Quemada and cleaning of the seabed by the concessionaire company to then wait for regeneration that will depend on factors such as the movement of marine currents. The study commissioned by Yaiza recommends an exhaustive study on the state of the seagrass bed in the area, another on the quality of the substrate and surrounding waters to the cages to find out the amount and nature of the nutrients that generate the growth of cyanobacteria and also suggests reevaluating the existing environmental impact study that was carried out prior to the placement of the exploitation and the control of the natural recovery of the marine environment.
Another of the extremes that the report clarifies is that in no case can the contamination of the coastline be attributed to alleged leaks of sewage. “They know that some government representative wanted to laugh at us and the people of Playa Quemada saying little more than the bottom was not affected not by the cages but by the leaks from septic tanks, well, let them know that this is false,” added the mayor.
The study was divided into three phases. First, the historical and present analysis of the conditions that affect the seabed of Playa Quemada, then a preliminary study of the coastal area including taking water samples and the possible presence of nutrients that can promote the appearance of harmful algae for bathing as well as parasites and bacteria, to finish with the underwater study of the areas adjacent to the marine cages, taking samples of sediments and water and the laboratory analysis.
