GEO: 08/24/2021
A disaster strikes in the nature and tourist paradise of Mar Menor.
Tons of dead fish, shrimps and crabs have been rescued from the water for days

Dead marine animals have been washing up on the once beautiful beaches of Mar Menor for days © REUTERS / Eva Manez

Environmental catastrophe in Europe’s largest salt water lagoon: In the Mar Menor (the “Little Sea”) in southeastern Spain, around 4.5 tons of dead fish and crabs were taken out of the water within seven days, according to the newspaper “ABC” and other media on Reported Monday, citing the government of the Murcia region.
Authorities and environmentalists attribute the mass deaths to a lack of oxygen, which is caused by the high temperatures and also by pollution.

The head of government of Murcia, Fernando López Miras, called on the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in a letter on Monday to “immediately convene” a crisis meeting at which measures to save the inland water, which has been plagued by ecological problems for years, should be decided.
After several incidents in recent years, the Mar Menor must be declared a disaster area, said López Miras.

Civil Guard officers have taken samples from various locations in the Mar Menor for further analysis. The cause of death of the fish is currently unknown © Edu Botella / EUROPA PRESS / dpa

Almost two years ago, for example, around three tons of dead lagoon inhabitants – mainly small fish and crabs – were washed up. The Mar Menor was once considered a natural and tourist paradise – today you can usually only see a “green soup” that gives off a rotten stench.

The culprit is so-called eutrophication – a harmful enrichment of nutrients in the water caused by human activities.
This leads to a strong increase in algae and bacteria, which deprive other plant species, fish and other animals and small organisms of their livelihood.
High temperatures accelerate eutrophication.
A few days ago, a heat wave had brought temperatures in all of Spain Murcia of well over 40 degrees.

The conservative regional government blames the weather and the left-wing central government, which gives too little support.

Environmentalists, however, pillory the regional government. They do nothing against the intensive agriculture in the immediate vicinity of the lagoon, which is the main culprit for the problems.
Especially when it rains heavily, fresh water and a lot of fertilizer-containing mud get into the lagoon.

https://www.geo.de/natur/oekologie/riesiges-fischsterben-in-europas-groesster-salzwasser-lagune–30678376.html

And I mean…So … a foreseeable disaster..

Fertilizer also massively promotes the growth of algae and it is common knowledge that agriculture also increases the nitrate content in the groundwater considerably.

Contaminate the soil, poison the groundwater, damage the climate and marine life, torture the cattle and even collect subsidies for them.
This is how agriculture works everywhere, not just in Spain.
With devastating ecological disasters

So it’s no wonder that the Mar Menor looks like green soup, suffocate fish and marine life.
But otherwise, the subsidies for the bullfights continue despite tight budgets due to Corona, and money is being put in the sand for the cruelest spectacle in Spain, instead of investing effective measures against this ecological catastrophe.

Paul Watson said that “when the oceans die, we die too”.
We have to act while it is still possible.
Otherwise, a terrible disaster threatens and the survivors will hate us all for it.

My best regards to all, Venus