Millions of Fish Die on Spain Beach
Pastor Dale Morgan
Sep 29, 8:43 PM EDT
*Millions of Fish Die on Spain Beach*
By HAROLD HECKLE
Associated Press Writer
MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Millions of anchovies - a protected fish species
in Europe - have died in northern Spain after an unexplained mass
beaching, officials said Friday.
The fish, all juveniles, were found stranded along large stretches of
Colunga beach, 35 miles east of the port city of Gijon, a normally
pristine seaside landscape in the verdant province of Asturias.
"More than three tons have been found so far, and our main - untested -
hypothesis at the moment is that they tried to flee from predators and
accidentally beached," said Luis Laria, chief coordinator of a marine
protection unit working with the government.
Laria said a European Union moratorium on fishing anchovies along the
northern Atlantic coast of Spain and the western coast of France has
been in place for two months. Less rigorous fishing restrictions had
been used for the previous two years.
These anchovies are considered susceptible to extinction and are
therefore closely monitored by scientists, according to Spain's
Environment Ministry.
Although anchovies are exported from elsewhere in the world, including
Peru and Chile, Laria said anchovies from the Atlantic off Spain and
France are the most valued and expensive because of their flavor,
derived from their nutrient-rich environment.
If the beached specimens had grown to full maturity, they would have
represented more than 100 tons of potential breeders.
"It's a bit of a disaster," said Laria. "We can't fish them because
they're so rare, and now they've killed themselves."
Laria said that experts had studied the dead anchovies and found no
evidence of toxic chemicals that could have caused the beaching. "The
likelihood is that a shoal tried to swim away from hungry dolphins or tuna."
A factor that may have disoriented the fish is unusually high water
temperatures off Colunga in the high 70s, Laria said, adding that such a
mass beaching of anchovies is unprecedented in northern Spain.
A cleanup team was dispatched Friday to begin scooping up the dead fish
to avoid further unwanted environmental side-effects.