Ecologistas en Acción sailing boat arrives on the Granada coastline to take care of its beaches

The sailing boat beloning to environmentalist group Ecologistas en Acción hsa reached the Costa Tropical to raise awareness about the care of the sea and beaches.

The Diosa Maat sailing boat campaign is being carried out this year entirely by volunteers from the organisation. Since the beginning of the summer, the boat has been travelling to areas along the Andalusian and Murcia coastlines, where local branches of Ecologistas en Acción are carrying out work and protest actions.

The volunteers spend three weeks at this stop between Granada and Almeria to carry out awareness-raising activities before setting off for the Mar Menor in Murcia. The organisation's programme includes an exhaustive cleaning of the seabed in La Herradura, as well as the mouth of the Guadalfeo in Salobreña, and whale-watching expeditions.

The activities began on Friday with a talk on the marine environment and coral regeneration in collaboration with the NGO Coral Soul. On 29 July there will be a cleanup of the seabed and scuba diving in the coral regeneration area (ZEC of Punta de la Mona) in collaboration with the NGO Coral Soul.

In addition, on 30 July the organisation will take part in a demonstration on La Herradura beach, on land and sea, against the problems generated by jet skis and the privatisation of the use of the beach, in collaboration with the Bahía Tranquila platform.

On the days that the ship remains at anchor in the Motril marina, which has provided a space for it, the public will be able to participate in awareness-raising activities to learn about the vessel and the marine environment.

According to the provincial secretary of Ecologistas, Juan Antonio Martínez, the Granada stage has four aims: the fight against the destruction and urbanisation of the coastline; against the strategy of defending the coast of Granada with its famous breakwaters; the campaign against illegal dumping at sea; and to draw attention to the problems of immigration in small boats and the situation suffered by migrants on both shores.

Regarding the strategy for the defence of the coastline, the ecologists consider that it is necessary to renaturalise the beaches, not to encroach on the coastline and hinder the dynamics of the sea. For these and other reasons, the beach of La Herradura was this year awarded a Black Flag, as was Albuñol beach for its plastic waste.

Finally, Ecologistas en Acción has been denouncing for 25 years, since its foundation, the problems of sewage treatment and the dumping of waste water by some housing developments into the sea, which is why a few months ago it started a project to count all the outlets and determine which ones are dumping irregularly.