As if it were a police film, despite having the corpus delicti, numerous evidence collected at the scene, and having witnesses to the findings, including some affected, the weapon still does not appear. The hydrocarbon stain that, to this day, still causes the closure of beaches in Tenerife, still has no origin. Maritime Captaincy, the person in charge of the surveillance and monitoring of any type of pollution in the sea, assured this week that it has not found any indications (not even the stain that has ended up affecting the beaches) that there has been a spill from some ship that will generate fuel pollution that since August 31 has forced the closure of beaches such as Almáciga, Roque de las Bodegas, Las Gaviotas, part of Las Teresitas, the coast of Candelaria, the coast of Arafo, and El Puertito of Güímar. In addition to the perplexity of the municipalities affected by the communication from the Maritime Captaincy, which they continue to require to be informed officially, they lament over the economic consequences that the closure of beaches has caused. The effects suffered are also similar, with the appearance of dead fish, bathers affected by the fuel that floated in the water, or the piche deposited in the sand. This is reflected in the report prepared by the Santa Cruz City Council and transferred to the Government of the Canary Islands, but also the one carried out by the Candelaria City Council, in which similar events are detailed.
The mayor of Santa Cruz, José Manuel Bermúdez, showed his surprise at the response given by the Maritime Captaincy on the stain, defending that “the municipalities do not close the beaches for pleasure.” The same is the opinion of the mayor of Güímar, Gustavo Pérez, who did not understand the answer given. “The beaches had to be closed, even today there are some like Candelaria that are closed, so I don’t understand why they say they haven’t found anything.”
On Friday, the Güímar City Council placed the yellow flag in a part of Puertito due to the presence, again, of hydrocarbons. “With the rise and fall of the tide, some traces of fuel are appearing, so we have put the yellow flag to warn bathers”.
Bermúdez and Pérez coincide in pointing out that, to the environmental damage that this spill has caused, the economic one is added. “In Anaga, the closure of the beaches directly affects the businesses in the area,” lamented the capital’s councilor during the days that he was forced to close the beaches of Almáciga or Roque de las Bodegas. For his part, Pérez points out the damage suffered by the Puertito bars and restaurants, as well as groups such as the elderly, who do their exercises right on the part of the beach that had to be closed. Both councilors demand that they be given an official response, as they have requested.
In Candelaria, on Friday, the City Council confirmed that it would not open its coastline during the weekend. It will be tomorrow, Monday, when the state of the beaches is evaluated again to make a decision. Meanwhile, a crew made up of five workers cleans every day the hydrocarbon remains that are found on the beaches when the tide goes out. Candelaria, like the rest of the municipalities, had to close its beaches last week due to contamination. Even, initially, given the possibility that the origin of the spill came from the treatment plant, it commissioned the concessionaire of the water service to prepare a report. The result was negative, the stains had nothing to do with the purifier. The same report already warned of the appearance of dead fish in the Guanches and San Blas area. This Monday, September 6, all the beaches were closed due to contamination, and they continue to do so.
From the Tenerife Association of Friends of Nature (ATAN), its spokesperson, adds to the perplexity of the mayors at the lack of response. “If the Maritime Captaincy says there is nothing, it must be that what is on the beaches is something else,” he says wryly. For ATAN, the most probable origin is “that of a ship that has carried out spills, cleaning the tanks, or a similar maneuver, given the number of affected beaches on the Island, and the way in which they have done it.” For Villalba, what is clear is that “the lack of response indicates that the control and surveillance system does not work.” “Given the evidence, that they say that they have not detected anything is the demonstration that they do not have the capacity to control this type of event or that they do not know how to do it, because we have not invented pollution, the beaches have been closed,” he adds.
“What is amazing – he continues – is that I do not know the origin when the evidence that there has been a spill in the sea are closed beaches, a pollution that not only has an effect on the environment, but also economically, because if we close beaches We affect tourism, which is the one that provides us with the most important income ”.
Asked what could be done, Villalba was clear. “What we propose is that if we Spaniards spend a lot of money on a satellite monitoring system, on paying officials to do these surveillance jobs, the only thing we can demand is that they work.”
He recalled that “since 2004 the inland waters of the Canary Islands have been declared as an area of special sensitivity, a declaration by which routes have been established between Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura, and between Tenerife and Gran Canaria for the passage of oil tankers. Ships of more than 600 tons are controlled, presumably by the authorities, so that they do not dump. What happens is that the means have not been put in place so that this does not happen, and what I say is not an exaggeration, because the beaches have been closed ”.
