The pellets are also in Canary Islands. This Wednesday, a message from the Government of the Canary Islands reported the presence of small quantities of this plastic on the coasts of Bajamar, in Tenerife. The origin, as this editorial team has been able to confirm, was the spill from a ship in Portugal and, in principle, it has no relation to the spill in Galicia.
The regional Executive, in accordance with the Territorial Civil Protection Plan of the Canary Islands, has activated the pre-alert, as is. as confirmed to this editorial team. In addition, he has urged “to be vigilant about the arrival of these polluting substances” to the coasts of the Archipelago.
”This preventive activation is carried out with the objective of making available the emergency resources of the Government of the Canary Islands and guaranteeing the coordination of the intervening services from 1-1-2 Canary Islands,” they explain from the General Directorate of Emergencies.
The pellets were detected around 10:00 a.m. on Bajamar beach, in the municipality of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, by the Beach Rescue and First Aid Service. In this sense, an initial surveillance system has been established on the north coast of Tenerife with the participation of a Maritime Rescue ship. This vessel will be in charge of locating and collecting these types of materials on the high seas and preventing them from reaching the coast.
The General Directorate has stated that this surveillance must also be carried out by land, through the town councils, the town councils and the lifeguard services on the beaches of other areas of the Canary Islands. ”At the moment there is no evidence of its arrival in other areas of the Archipelago coast,” the Executive assures.
The Government of the Canary Islands has made the helicopters of the Emergency and Rescue Group (GES), as well as the drones of the General Directorate of Emergencies, available to the surveillance network and will proceed to analyze the sample collected to confirm their origin and if the identity of the material corresponds to that of the spill recorded in the north of the peninsula.
Pellet tide in Galicia
In recent weeks, pellets have been in the spotlight. A tide of these plastics has been reaching the Galician coasts since mid-December. The origin of this spill is also located in Portugal, where the Toconao ship lost part of its cargo. These small balls have also reached Asturias, Cantabria and Euskadi.
Pellets, also called mermaid tears, are small balls that are used as raw material to make plastic products. Experts have already warned of the risk that these plastics pose for marine organisms, which ingest them, mistaking them for food.
In statements to the Efe agency, researcher at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Alicia Herrera stated that this type of spill is common in the Canary Islands. ”They come to us continuously, sometimes in enormous quantities, but it is not news,” she concludes.
