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ENVIRONMENT

Millions of plastic pellets are spreading across Spain’s northern coast

A so-called 'white tide' of plastic pellets are washing up on the shores of Galicia and Asturias, polluting beaches and causing a political blame game between national and regional governments.

Published: 9 January 2024 11:10 CET
plastic pellets galicia
The plastic pellets spill has reminded Galicians of the Prestige oil disaster, the worst oil spill in European history. Photo: Sergio FLORES/AFP

Since mid-December, millions of microplastic pellets have washed up on the coast of northern Spain. These pellets have mainly affected beaches in dozens of municipalities of the Galicia region, but are now also washing up on the shores of neighbouring Asturias.

Dubbed a “white tide” by the Spanish press, the millions of tiny pellets came from a merchant ship flying under the Liberian flag that was carrying the microplastics and lost up to six containers in nearby Portuguese waters.

The pellets first washed up on the coast of Galicia and are now spreading along the coast to other northern regions. The areas of Galicia affected so far are A Illa de Arousa, Ribeira, Noia, Muros, Carnota, A Coruña, Burela and Foz, among others.

Pellets are microplastics smaller than 5 millimetres used in the manufacture of plastic products such as bottles, containers or bags.

READ ALSO: Spain’s Galicia struggles with mass shellfish die-off

In Asturias, where pellets have also been detected on some beaches, the regional government has activated an anti-pollution plan. Yet in Galicia, where the majority of the pollution has been so far, responsibility for the clean-up operations have been left to teams of volunteers. In recent days, over 400 volunteers took to the beaches along the coastline to try and clean up the pellets.

The clean-up operation, as well as when exactly the authorities were made aware of the microplastic pollution, has threatened to cause something of a political blame game between the Xunta de Galicia and national government.

With regional elections scheduled in Galicia in little over a month, the issue has taken on a heightened political dimension. The Xunta claims it did not receive official notification about the pellets until January 3rd, while the government says it was sent to the Galician coastguard three weeks earlier.

Alfonso Rueda, President of Galicia and the Partido Popular (PP) candidate seeking re-election in the coming weeks, has lambasted the government for a lack of data and accused his opponents of politicising the issue for electoral gain by “going into election mode” from “the first moment” and making a “blatant campaign” issue of an environmental problem.

On January 8th, the environmental unit of Spain’s prosecutor’s office opened proceedings to investigate what happened. According to the prosecutor’s statement, reported in Spanish daily El País, the pellets “contribute to microplastic pollution” and the materials “show signs of toxicity” and “are not biodegradable.”

The document also points to possible criminality, specifically Article 325 of Spain’s Criminal Code which outlines that “anyone who directly or indirectly causes or carries out emissions, discharges… into land, ground or sea waters, including the high seas, shall be punished with imprisonment of six months to two years.”

READ ASO: Spain’s ‘Prestige’ – The worst-ever oil spill in Europe ‘could happen again’

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ENVIRONMENT

Spain’s endangered Iberian lynx population doubles in three years

The number of endangered Iberian lynx in the wild in Spain and Portugal has nearly doubled since 2020 to surpass 2,000 last year, the Spanish government said Friday.

Published: 17 May 2024 13:01 CEST
Spain's endangered Iberian lynx population doubles in three years

A total of 722 lynx were born in 2023 bringing their total number in the two countries to 2,021, a record high since monitoring of the species began and up from 1,111 just three years earlier, Spain’s environment ministry said in a statement.

This rise “allows us to continue to be optimistic about the reduction of the risk of extinction of the Iberian lynx,” it added.

Known for its pointy ears, long legs and leopard-like spotted fur, the species was on the brink of extinction just two decades ago due to poaching, road accidents and encroachment on their habitat by urban development, as well as a dramatic decline due to disease in wild rabbits numbers, the lynx’s main prey.

When the first census of the spotted nocturnal cat was carried out in 2002, there were fewer than 100 specimens in the Iberian Peninsula.

The ministry party attributed the boom in lynx numbers to the success of a captive breeding and reintroduction programme launched in 2011. Since then, 372 lynx born in captivity have been released into the wild.

“The recovery of the Iberian lynx population in Spain and Portugal constitutes one of the best examples of conservation actions for endangered species in the world,” it said.

The ministry said the Iberian lynx population has continued to rise since 2015, when the International Union for Conservation of Nature downgraded the threat level to “endangered” from “critically endangered — its highest category before extinction in the wild.

Most Iberian lynx can be found in the Donana national park and Sierra Morena mountains in the southwestern region of Andalusia, but the conservation programme has reintroduced captive-bred animals to the Spanish regions of Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura and Murcia, as well as Portugal.

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