The Ona Foundation Futura has launched this Monday an “alert before the critical situation of the Mediterranean Sea at the beginning of summer: water temperatures already exceeding 27ºC proliferation of toxic algae, invasive species, unprecedented tourist pressure and an increasingly fragile ecosystem“.
According to a press release, “one of the elements most affected by this situation is the Posidonia oceanica, considered the lungs of the Mediterranean”. Every day, they detail, “thousands of boats drop their anchors on underwater meadows, uprooting large extensions of this plant essential for biodiversity, water quality and coastal protection”. And in areas such as Ibiza and Formentera, “the impact is visible even from the air“.
The Ona Futura Foundation therefore announces that “it has initiated this summer new restoration works of posidonia by installing underwater structures, replanting and monitoring with advanced technology, as well as awareness campaigns for sailors”, although they do not detail in which areas of the coastline.
The data collected by the foundation’s network of underwater sensors, “confirm that this june the coastal waters have registered up to four degrees above average“. This unusual increase in temperature, they add from this foundation, “causes a chain effect: thermal stress in marine species, alteration of currents, reduction of oxygen in the water and an increase in the appearance of pollutants”. “The damage is already visible,” they warn. And they add: “In different points of the coastline there have been massive mortalities of corals, sponges and molluscswhile jellyfish and toxic microalgae such as Ostreopsis ovata are spreading, with possible health effects for bathers,” warns Inma Farran, president of the Ona Futura Foundation, in the same note.
This situation, moreover, “will worsen during the summer, since in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands alone, the arrival of more than eight million visitors is expectedwhich increases waste generation, water consumption and the overloading of infrastructures”.
Faced with this situation, the foundation stresses that “the tourism model must be transformed towards more sustainable practices“. To achieve this goal, they point out that they are collaborating “with hotels, ports and operators in the sector to promote environmentally friendly tourism, which incorporates real environmental criteria and contributes to the conservation of the sea as an economic and social asset,” explained the president.
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