A beach at Benalmadena covered in Asian seaweed.
Credit: ayuntamientobenalmadena/Facebook.com
Asian seaweed is building up on Marbella s beaches and the local council is demanding the central government do something to help.
The Partido Popular (PP) authority in Malaga insists that the monthly €150,000 expense of removing the mounds of Asian seaweed shouldn t just be shouldered by Marbella s tax payers. A spokesman for the PP said it was extraordinary that the government would allocate so much money to other matters, but not this .
Getting rid of invasive algae
The cost not only involves tractors raking the beaches to get rid of the seaweed, but also cleaning, transport and safe disposal of this invasive algae. The image of the fast-growing seaweed, according to PP, is not only problematic for bathers, but also an eyesore that affects the tourism economy.
It is also said that this type of seaweed is having a grave environmental impact on the natural local flora and fauna of Marbella s coastline and the spokesperson for PP accuses the central government of paying lip service with a false ecological programme . The problem of Asian seaweed on the Costa del Sol is a complaint that has been around since 2016.
The brown Asian seaweed Rugulopteryx okamurae (Dictyotales, Ochrophyta), native to the Pacific Ocean and widely distributed in Asia, has been recently recognised as an emblematic case of biological invasion by marine macroalgae in European waters.
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