Santa Pola Oyster Farm has Capacity Alteration Approved

Reports that overfishing is damaging the ecosystem of the Mediterranean, which in turn results in more occurrences of the likes of sharks and jellyfish, for example, appear to have been ignored by the Alicante provincial council, who have approved an adjustment to maximum capacities in Santa Pola.

Specifically, the company Moluscos Santa Pola SL, is able to farm up to 135 tons of oysters and scallops per year in Santa Pola, after the company had requested not to assign the annual production capacity to each crop species, but to the crop as a whole. A request that has ended up being accepted by the Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, whose opinion was published in the Official Gazette of the Generalitat Valenciana. The territorial director of Alicante issued a favourable report to this modification, after the positive report from the General Directorate of the Coast and the Sea on March 15.

Various production plans are proposed for the three species that are intended to be cultivated, but there is some common sense in that in no case could they lead to an increase in the authorised 135 tons per year.

However, the risk to the environment has not been totally ignored, as it is an environmentally sensitive area, and in view of a new report prepared by Red Natura 2000, new conditions were established. Before the start of the activity, existing infrastructure that will not be used will be removed and the affected environment will be physically restored. And above all, different measures to protect biodiversity, such as not locating crop lines on sensitive habitats, not cultivating exotic species, not using certain devices that could alter the life of marine mammals or ensuring that farm divers do not interact with the bottlenose dolphins.

In this way, a series of requirements have been added regarding contingency plans, prevention of impact also on birds, sampling has been limited, which will be quarterly, and an environmental monitoring plan is required as well as waste collection. The installation involves a rectangle-shaped surface of 1,200 x 650 metres.

Overall, the parent of the company is the leader of the sector in the Mediterranean with half of the annual production in the ports of Valencia and Sagunto, and a turnover that around 7 million euro annually.