Opposition could leave fish farm floundering

CALPE’S Banyets de la Reina might once have been a Roman fish-farm, but present-day residents do not want another.

The town hall, fishing guild, Royal Yacht Club and environmentalist group Ecologistas en Accion, all oppose installing a fish farm off Calpe’s coast. An industrial installation on this scale “collides head-on” with the town’s tourist industry – the mainstay of the local economy – said mayor Cesar Sanchez Perez. 

Friday last week was the last day for lodging objections to the scheme which has been approved by the regional government’s Infrastructure, Territory and Environment department. The fish-farm, which plans to breed sea bass and gilthead bream will impact negatively both aesthetically and environmentally on Calpe and threaten the seabed, opponents argue.