After hundreds of dead fish began to wash along the shores of one of Europe’s largest saltwater lagoons, prosecutors in the region of Murcia in southern Spain launched an investigation.
Residents in the area sounded the alarm this week. Release shot It was shown on social media that large numbers of small fish and shrimps were scattered on the beach of the famous coastal lagoon Marmeno In southeastern Spain.
⚠️The little sea monster is dead again⚠️
A video recorded today at La Lengua de la Vaca beach in Los Nietos (Cartagena).
Due to insufficient oxygen caused by the overflow, the fish died again from the water. pic.twitter.com/5Zd8zPoB2P-Francisco Cortes (@Francortescdp) August 16, 2021
Ada García Saura of SOS Mar Menor said that a few days later, residents began to find blue crabs among the dead. “It is a very strong and resistant predator. So if we see that these species are much more resistant, it implies the seriousness of what is happening.”
Ecologists expressed concern that this week’s grim discovery may be a repeat of October 2019, when thousands of fish and crustaceans Scour In the same area. Experts at the time blamed the deaths on decades of nitrate-rich runoff, mainly from agriculture, which enters the lagoon and triggers large amounts of algae, depleting the oxygen in the water-basically suffocating fish.
This is not the first time such an incident has occurred in the region. In 2015, the same phenomenon described as extreme eutrophication was blamed on dyeing the waters of Mar Menor green and kill 85% of seaweed.
For a long time, researchers have warned that the area is under extreme pressure. The lagoon is adjacent to a vast intensive agricultural area, covering approximately 60,000 hectares (150,000 acres). Poor sewage systems in nearby towns-which have flourished in recent decades with the development of tourism in the area-and emissions from mining activities have exacerbated the problem.
Agricultural groups refuted their claims, saying that they should not be held responsible for the crisis, and arguing that their processes fully comply with environmental legislation.
This week, as dead fish began to be washed up again, residents of the area lashed out at officials. “They haven’t done anything or anything for five years,” a woman told reporters. “They said all kinds of things,” another said, adding: “We have seen a major change in Mar Menor’s environment and it’s getting worse and worse. It’s dying.”
District government officials cited preliminary research conducted by a university in the region and denied that the deaths were caused by the lack of oxygen in the water or the presence of toxic substances. Instead, they suggested that the cause may be related to the recent heat wave, and pointed out that the data showed that the water temperature rose from 28.5 degrees Celsius (83.3 degrees Fahrenheit) to 31 degrees Celsius (87.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in two days.
García Saura refused to accept this explanation. He was one of the people who promoted the protection of the Mar Menor and legally recognized it as a “person.” “Mar Menor usually has a temperature of 26 or 27 degrees. We are almost in a subtropical climate,” she said. “Therefore, the flora and fauna of Mar Menor have adapted to these temperatures.”
The conservation charity WWF has called on the authorities to conduct more extensive investigations to ensure that eutrophication or hypoxia is not the cause of fish deaths. “It is impossible to clarify the cause of this death without a thorough investigation of what happened,” it said in a joint statement with Anse, a conservation organization focused on the southeast. Spain, Tuesday.
The two groups called on local governments to jointly take measures to restore the lagoon, such as reducing intensive agriculture or urban development, and improving sewage systems and wastewater treatment. “It should not be thought that the death event ended so quickly,” it said.
