Harmful Algal Blooms (HABS) control in the Canary Islands

The Deputy Minister for Sustainability of the Canary Islands, Guacimara Medina, visited on Wednesday the facilities of Spanish Bank of Algae (BEA) to monitor the program on marine organisms proliferations developed by the regional government.

The regional government said that the Sub-Department of Sustainability, in partnership with the BEA and the Institute of Oceanography and Global Change (IOCAG) at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), has launched the second part of the prevention and control of harmful algal blooms Program.

The purpose of this visit was to inform and discuss about the increasing phenomena of massive blooms of microalgae occurred in recent years in the islands, as well as to focus on the Spanish Bank of Algae as a tool for its study and monitoring. Both the BEA and IOCAG have been tracking harmful algal blooms for the last ten years.

The frequent arrivals of jellyfish and other marine organisms to the beaches in the last two years has been one of the events that indicate the rapid changes taking place in the marine environment in the Canaries and the little knowledge we still have about them.