‘Plastic surge’ on Northern Spain beaches could affect Portugal

Researcher Bordalo e Sa said on Tuesday that authorities should monitor the coast and “implement a tailored contingency plan” in the event of a “plastic tide” on northern Spain beaches that could affect Portugal.

“At the moment, the prevailing currents are directed north. It is likely that these particles will reach Portugal in the spring, when the direction of the currents changes and unless all the contents are washed ashore. [dos contentores que transportavam o plástico] which fell into the sea, although with less impact. The first step will be to intensify beach surveillance, including with the involvement of civil society, and the second step will be the implementation of an individual and controlled emergency plan,” explained the hydrobiologist from the University of Porto in a conversation with Lusa.

Bordalo e Sa observed that granules used as raw material for plastic products (known in English as “pellets” or “nurdles”) are easily converted into nanoplastics, entering the food chain of fish and bivalves and therefore the food chain fish and bivalves. people, and all its consequences are still unknown.

Regions of northern Spain, from Galicia to the Basque Country, activated or raised environmental alerts on Tuesday over tons of tiny plastic pellets that fell into the sea in Portuguese waters in December.

With beaches in northern Spain facing a “tide of plastic,” Bordalo e Sa noted that the problem is being faced by “very dynamic authorities because Spain is a decentralized country.”

In the case of Portugal, “the first 1,800 meters of sea on the Portuguese coast are part of the hydrographic basin plans,” so “they should be under the jurisdiction of the regional hydrographic administrations, but centralized in Lisbon.”

“The bulk of the content [das partículas de plástico] it would end up in Galicia and eventually reach France. We have experience of the Entre os Rios tragedy. [em 2001, várias pessoas morreram na sequência da queda de uma ponte e houve corpos encontrados na Galiza e em França]. But without a doubt they will be able to reach Portugal,” he warned.

On Spanish beaches we’re talking about “five-millimeter plastic spheres” that break easily, becoming “microplastics when they’re smaller than a millimeter, and then they break down even further into micron-sized nanoplastics, and then that’s the problem.” ” he continued.

“These nanoparticles are gradually colonized by the living creatures that live around them, and due to the smell, many fish will think that they are food, and bivalves will filter them indiscriminately,” he described.

The expert also noted that “the loss of containers, which is not so rare, did not occur near the coast,” but “on one of the most congested shipping lanes in the world,” which means that the north of Portugal and Galicia are “very vulnerable areas.” for accidents at sea.”

According to information released by the Spanish government, the owner of the boat, which on December 8 lost the containers with the cargo it was carrying, 80 kilometers from Viana do Castelo, reported that more than a thousand bags containing about 26.2 tons of these balls with about five millimeters in diameter, used for the production of plastics and which are now washed up on the coast of northern Spain.

Previous information known before Monday estimated 15 tons of plastic pellets inside one of the containers lost by the boat.

Other containers that fell overboard (at least five more) contained tires, rolls of cling film and aluminum rods, according to information provided by the boat owner to Spanish authorities.

The first bags of plastic balls were discovered on December 13 on the beaches of Galicia, on the border with Northern Portugal.

However, it was at the end of last week that large quantities of plastic pellets began to arrive on the Galician coast, scattered in bags.