Calpe Salinas are now too salty after drought

SALINAS: Too salty for the grey mullet.

CALPE’S salt beds are too salty thanks to one of the worst droughts ever recorded. Hundreds of fish have died despite 1,800 cubic metres of seawater pumped into the Salinas each day since last April.  

This has not averted high evaporation levels that deprive fish of the oxygen they need to survive, although the resulting salinity has prevented the green algae that often cover the salt beds in the summer.  The present conditions are decimating the grey mullet that populate the Salinas although eels and sea bass are less affected.  

An Alicante University study did not detect fish in the Salinas 15 years ago although they now enter from the sea as hatchlings and, without natural predators, reproduce freely.

The town hall asked visitors and residents not to dramatise the situation with photos of dead fish and alarmist commentaries in the social media. 

Fish always die in the Salinas when high temperatures combine with drought, the town hall’s Environment department pointed out.

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