Removing algae costs €1 million

Estepona Town Council has reported that the cleaning work being carried out by the municipal Beaches Department has resulted in the removal of a total of 450 tonnes of Asian seaweed so far in 2024. Of this amount, 180 tonnes was removed in just one week.

The Mayor of Estepona, José María García Urbano, has on several occasions asked the central government for a national aid plan for the coastal municipalities affected, as the proliferation of this algae has a negative impact on both the tourist and fishing sectors, and it is the town councils who have to provide their own resources to alleviate the effects of this situation. In the case of Estepona, the specific work to collect this algae entails an annual extra cost of more than one million euros.

During 2023 Estepona Town Hall collected a total of 3,415 tonnes of seaweed and, in 2022, when the highest figure was reached, 5,331 tonnes had to be removed from the beaches.