The Galician government has warned of the need to intensify surveillance on its coasts due to the arrival of storms in the coming hours, which could favor the push towards land of the pellets dumped by the merchant ship Toconao in Atlantic waters last week. Tons of these tiny plastic balls ended up in the sea north of Portugal almost a month ago. In recent weeks they have been arriving in several areas of the northern Spanish coast, endangering the environmental health of the coast and provoking harsh political confrontations over the management of the crisis.
In Galicia, the yellow alert affects the west and southwest coasts of A Coruña, and in Pontevedra the Rias Baixas and Miño coasts, where southerly winds of 50 to 61 kilometers per hour (force 7) may temporarily occur. mainly offshore.
The new environmental enemy that hits Galicia and the northern coasts are small plastic balls of about 4-5 mm in diameter that are used to manufacture various plastic products, such as bags or containers. Its tiny size, buoyancy, durability and the risk of carrying associated contaminants, such as pesticides or sunscreens, are some of the ingredients of this new ecological and political storm.
The situation recalls the impact of the tragic Prestige oil spill. In 2002, the Prestige oil tanker spill disaster occurred, which split in two and sank off the coast of Galicia, loaded with more than 70,000 tons of crude oil. More than 20 years later, the emblematic Galician coast is once again hit, along with other regions of the Cantabrian Sea, by a new polluting spill.
The affected communities (mainly Galicia, Cantabria, Asturias and the Basque Country) have already activated this week the mechanisms for coordinating means to clean up the spill, which is highly polluting according to experts. One of the main dangers for the environment is that these tiny pellets end up being ingested by marine animals, which mistake them for food, which could have an impact on public health problems.
Within the framework of this crisis, the Minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, reproached the Xunta for demanding resources that almost triple what it requested at the time with the tragic Prestige oil spill.
In the case of pellets now, given the toxicity of plastic in such tiny quantities, they also represent a very serious environmental problem. The smaller the material, the more dangerous it is, scientists agree.
It is "irresponsible", however, according to Ribera, that the Galician government is requesting "all the maritime rescue resources" in the country to deal with the disaster because the rest would be left unprotected in the event of possible serious emergencies that could arise. The minister reiterated her "maximum" willingness to collaborate with the Galician Executive, but said that it will have to be mutual, in "both directions."
In the scientific field, experts warn of the environmental toxicity of pellets because they can remain for a long time until they degrade into tiny particles, forming microplastics with enormous longevity. The danger for marine organisms is, on the one hand, their ingestion and, on the other hand, the damage caused by associated chemicals, according to experts.
There are contaminants usually in very low concentrations in the environment that nevertheless stick to the walls of the pellets. This causes them to concentrate there, and makes them more dangerous for the marine organisms that ingest them, explained Alicia Herrera, researcher of excellence "Viera y Clavijo" in the EOMAR IU-ECOAQUA research group at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. .
It has been said that some additives may contain sunscreens and some may be very toxic. But "even if they did not contain them and were more inert compounds, such as PET, these plastics act like sponges that accumulate other pollutants present in the marine environment." This was stated by Ethel Eljarrat, director of the Institute of Environmental Diagnosis and Water Studies (IDAEA-CSIC), after adding that what is accumulated by fish is accumulated by humans "also by ingesting them."
These small plastic spheres dumped into the sea are highly persistent in the natural environment, and given their buoyancy they can be dispersed by currents, which makes their recovery very difficult, stated Carmen Morales, a researcher of excellence in the area of Ecology of the University Institute of Marine Research of the University of Cádiz.
"Over time, some of that plastic will reach the coasts, as is already being seen, and another part will remain out of sight, either because it has been transported out to sea or because as its density increases it will end up sinking, becoming entangled with organic matter or burying themselves in the sediments," he concluded.
