Southern Spain boosts marine clean‑ups and anti‑illegal‑fishing efforts

In Almería, the city mayor María del Mar Vázquez and European fisheries officials used the fourth "Comprometidos con nuestro mar" forum to denounce illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, warning that about 15 % of the fish sold in the EU market may come from illicit catches and stressing the sector’s importance for more than 3 000 local families.

In Algeciras, the CIES dive club, led by Juan Antonio Parada, conducted its annual underwater clean‑up at La Ballenera for the World Environment Day, removing accumulated fishing gear and ploms that will be recycled into new diving tools. Municipal officials highlighted the action’s link to Algeciras’s 2030 Urban Agenda coastal‑regeneration plans.

Cartagena hosted the V Macro Clean‑up of beaches and marine floors, organized by Club GESC and supported by the city council and the University of Murcia, where dozens of volunteers collected debris from the El Portús beach.

Almuñécar’s dive centre and local authorities removed over 150 kg of waste—including tires, nets and lead weights—from the seabed near Peñón del Santo, recording the material in the MARNOBA database.

The Murcia region staged a coordinated macro‑clean‑up from San Pedro del Pinatar to Águilas, involving multiple dive clubs and funded by the EU Maritime Fund, aiming to raise awareness and prevent future marine litter.

Separately, the neighbourhood association Fapacsa raised fresh complaints about ongoing river‑Pícaro discharges contaminating the Getares beach, questioning the continued Blue Flag award despite visible pollution at the river mouth.