Last Sunday, May 29, around 250 people attended the rally called by the Calp City Council against the expansion of the fish farm. At the head, the Calpine Fishermen's Brotherhood carried a clear and blunt phrase: "no to the fish farm, consume our fish from the Lonja".
The concentration began in the fishing port and the delegation toured the space between the Lonja and the breakwater under the Peñón de Ifac. In this way, the Major Patron of the Brotherhood, Paco Catalá, the mayor of Calp, Ana Sala, and various members of the Fishermen's Association led the demonstration.
Followed by another banner from the Association of Businessmen of Calp with the slogan "For a living sea, not to the fish farm", the rally was attended by representatives of all the municipal political groups, members of the Fishermen's Association and the sector fisheries, the business association, the Nautical Club and Ecologists in Action.
The President of the Fishermen's Association of Altea, the mayor of Benissa and some councilors from Altea also joined. The tour was enlivened by Batukada Calp and by the Colla de Xirimiters del Carellot. At the end of the act, Catalá highlighted the need to keep the sea clean and in its natural state and expressed his absolute rejection of the fish farm.
For his part, Richard Barreno, from Ecologists in Action and a member of the Governing Board of the Serra Gelada Natural Park, explained the effects of antibiotic and algaecide discharges caused by fish farms on the seabed and on marine species. In this way he highlighted: «17% of the feed that feeds the fish in the fish farm is antibiotic and these antibiotics reach the sea and other species. These facilities, of which Avramar wants to create a monopoly, have environmental and economic effects and have no limit on expansion.
Finally, the mayor, Ana Sala, pointed out: “Four years ago we rejected the expansion of the fish farm and after the pandemic we found that the authorization had been granted, expanding from 6 to 45 cages, affecting a unique landscape. We presented an appeal for reconsideration to which we have not had a response but we will continue fighting and we will get where it is necessary because the expansion of the fish farm is a brutal aggression.
Calp City Council presented in April the appeal against the resolution of the Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries that grants authorization for the expansion of the fish farm located in Calp. The new dimension of 45 floating cages is almost 6 times larger than the pre-existing one. However, so far no response has been received from the Ministry, but the start of the installation of the new cages on the Calpine coast is already noted.
The authorization involves a concession of 550.000 m2, in a delimited rectangle of 1.100x500m consisting of 45 floating cages 25 meters in diameter and 21,5 meters deep, with the capacity to produce 3.000 tons per year.
The appeal is articulated around four points: that the Conselleria's Environmental Impact Study lacks the study of viable alternatives required by law and whose absence may lead to the nullity of the activity authorization procedure. On the other hand, the City Council considers that the Environmental Impact Statement is resolved after the deadline.
It is also considered that the existence of a Public Participation Plan has not been accredited in accordance with the Law on spatial planning, urban planning and landscape. Finally, the impact that the installation would have on the local economy has not been sufficiently studied, which amounts to a loss of some 450 million euros.
To support the appeal, the City Council attached two reports: an environmental report carried out by the Geoinnova environmental consultancy and an economic impact report issued by the head of the City Council's Tourism and Economic Promotion area.
