Galicia steps up surveillance on beaches due to the possibility of more plastic

Galicia’s junta said on Tuesday it would step up surveillance over the “possible arrival of more plastic ‘pellets’ on beaches” and accused the government of withholding information from the Portuguese leader about containers falling into the sea.

In a statement sent to Lusa, the Environmental Council specifies that increased surveillance on Galician beaches due to the appearance of tons of tiny plastic balls will increase the number of people participating in the environmental operation Xunta da from 200 to 300. Galicia”, in view of the possible arrival of more ” pellets” in the coming days due to changing sea conditions.”

The vice president and environmental adviser criticized the “lack of communication and obstruction on the part of the Spanish government”, noting that “it was publicly disclosed today that on December 8, the Portuguese authorities notified the central executive that the ship Toconao had lost six containers [ao largo de Viana do Castelo]one of which is made of plastic,” but “this information was not officially transmitted to Kunta.”

This has reduced Galicia’s “ability to mount a comprehensive response to the potential for litter on the coast,” he said.

“In fact, in mid-December, the Autonomous Government discovered the accidental appearance of plastic waste in some sands, the origin of which was unknown, and despite the fact that it notified the central executive of the incident, it never alerted the Galician authorities that the coast had occurred Portuguese ship with the ship “Toconao” a few days earlier,” he added.

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.

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 5 millimeters in diameter, used to make plastics, and which are now washing up on the coast of northern Spain, with local press and environmental associations talking about “white sands” and a “tide of plastic”.

This Tuesday, during the meeting of the “Xunta da Galiza” with the technical specialists of MeteoGalicia, with the Deputy Director General of the Coast Guard and the Director of the Technological Institute of Maritime Control (Intecmar), “weather forecasts and their impact on the movement of material dumped in Portuguese waters” .

“In this sense, in the next few days, one hundred employees will join more than 200 people in the environmental operation carried out by Xunta,” the consulting company said in a statement.

Today, the Junta da Galicia upgraded the Territorial Action Plan for the Emergency of Marine Pollution in Galicia (Plan Camgal) to level 2, “taking into account, among other things, the forecasts of MeteoGalicia.”

According to Councilor Angeles Vázquez, “the central government must act within the limits of its powers and, above all, at sea.”

The official believes that the executive branch “must now mobilize its resources in the marine environment with the aim of collecting as many bags as possible, thereby preventing small particles from ending up in the sea, where removal results in something much more complex.”

The Portuguese government said today it is “careful” about the tons of tiny plastic pellets washed up on beaches in northern Spain and that it has found “no traces” on the Portuguese coast, according to information provided to Lusa by the ministry. environment.

The captaincy of Viana do Castelo said on Tuesday it was “concerned” and was “paying increased attention” to the possibility that the problem would affect the region, while the captaincy of the port of Caminha said it was vigilant about the situation.

Speaking to Lusa, Adriano Bordalo e Sá, a hydrobiologist and researcher at the University of Porto, said authorities must monitor the coast and “implement a tailored contingency plan” in the face of a “tide” of plastic on beaches. in northern Spain, which could affect Portugal.

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.

The Zero Association warned on Tuesday that it is “impossible to collect all” the plastic washed up on Spain’s shores into tons of tiny pellets that are “rapidly spreading through the environment” before reaching the human food chain.