Bad weather and Las Canteras algae fill Playa del Inglés

In Las Palmas they have decided to listen to the experts from the Canary Islands Technological Institute and put ecology above people: the result has been the massive transfer of tourists from Las Palmas every day in Salcai to the south of Gran Canaria fleeing from the vegetable filth that is tolerated on that little beach under scientific arguments. "The algae fulfill a function of maintaining the ecosystem" and, for this reason, not only do the neighbors get annoyed but tourists flock to Playa de Inglés and Maspalomas. While the neighbors suffer from the presence of mosquitoes and the users of Las Canteras are annoyed, the insects that populate the Las Cantera beach feast on the skin of those who dare to lie down and sunbathe under the sun during the cloudy weather that is almost always there is from June to October.

The hoteliers of Las Palmas don't know what to do anymore and some have arranged transportation for their clients to the south of Gran Canaria because, in addition, the algae generates mosquitoes and when dried it is annoying. It should also be added that Las Palmas is always cloudy in summer and this is not usually known to tourists who, upon waking up every day, realize that it is not an isolated event and ask for explanations at hotel receptions because they were sold good weather and The Gran Canaria capital looks like Mordor, the fictional space belonging to the legendarium created by the British writer JRR Tolkien, where important events from his novels The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion take place.

According to calculations made by the researcher at the Canary Islands Technological Institute, Eduardo Portillo, author of the study 'Arrivals of algae and marine plants in Gran Canaria', 85% of the extractions that are transported to the Gran Canaria Norte Ecopark is sand. The more than 50 tons that have been removed from the shore may seem like a lot, but it must be taken into account that, on average, the shore of Las Canteras beach receives about 1.200 tons of algae. The most common variety is the brown seaweed 'Lobophora variegata', although Portillo's study detected up to eight different types of seba.

Part of the seba, according to the newspaper La Provincia, is left on the beach itself because it is a beneficial source of nutrients for the natural environment. The vast majority is removed from the shore and accumulated to dry before being taken to the landfill. The reasons why this material is extracted are to prevent slipping by beach users and reduce odor nuisance. The word seba is used to define algae in general, although it must be clarified that what is usually identified as seba is not an algae, but a marine plant whose scientific name is 'Cymodocea nodosa'.