It is confirmed, the microlgae They have returned. At the end of last week they appeared in Candelaria, forcing bathing in two beaches in the municipality to be discouraged. A week later, the City Hall of Candelaria has re-placed the same warning signs to its neighbors and visitors, to dissuade since yesterday, preventively, from bathing in all the beaches of the municipality after detecting the presence of microalgae in the water. “From the Health area, the situation will be monitored and the evolution of these enclaves will be communicated through official channels,” ends the statement from the consistory, which does not prohibit or close the beaches, but does advise against entering the water.
On this occasion, the presence of microalgae has been more evident than ten days ago when it was recommended not to swim on the beaches of Punta Larga and Los Guanches for almost five days. The brown spots have been seen with the naked eye, as some neighbors have warned through social networks, but not only in Candelaria, but also in other coves in the southeast of Tenerife, without, as has happened with Candelaria, since its local administrations are informed of the presence or not of these cyanobacteria, which became famous five years ago when they lived among us for a long time, especially in the western islands and Gran Canaria, as DIARIO DE AVISOS reported in particular.
The authorities have not commented on the new situation at the moment, despite the fact that the images captured these days by the people of Tenerife show stains on the coast of southeastern Tenerife, which last week also had episodes of beach closures in Granadilla de Abona, but in this case due to the effects of runoff from the rains that fell the day before.
Microalgae are, according to scientists, cyanobacteria (Trichodesmium erythraeum). A unicellular living being with some filaments that, if the right conditions are given, quickly join each other forming chains (trichomes) and their accumulation or aggregation on the surface of the sea can form kilometric rows, which the currents carry to the coast. From June 2017 until the end of that summer his presence was a constant in the Canary Islands. There was no talk of anything other than microalgae, even though there was no health risk.
So much so that the Ministry of Territorial Policy, Sustainability and Security of the Government of the Canary Islands activated a vessel in 2018 to control microalgae blooms near bathing areas after huge spots appeared again in the area of Masca and Los Gigantes, west of Tenerife.
Similarly, the usefulness of microalgae has been sought. The ITC (Technological Institute of Tenerife) created the public-private company Algalimento SL years ago with the aim of pre-industrializing the production of food made from microalgae. The ITER Spiterm project aims to take advantage of the geothermal waters of Tenerife to reduce the costs of commercial production of the microalgae Spirulina. The food industry has incorporated them into flans, ice cream or jams. They point out that nearly 30,000 species of microalgae generate at least 50% of the planet’s global photosynthesis activity.
