The “regeneration” project of the beach of Sada: a useless project with a serious environmental impact in the Reserva das Mariñas Coruñesas e Terras do Mandeo

On 19 August 2017, the BOE (Official Spanish Gazette) published the tender for the regeneration work on the beach of Sada as part of the “Environmental action in the ría of Pedrido, Phase I, beach of Sada (A Coruña)“, a project already drawn up by the Demarcation of the coast in Galicia in 2005.

The Environmental impact assessment (EIA) about the project of the ría was elaborated in 2006. Subsequently, two consultation periods were held: one in 2007 and another in 2009. On neither occasion did the municipal governments notify the social network to participate in the consultation period. Subsequently, its Environmental Impact Statement was published (BOE of April 16th, 2010). In this environmental impact statement, the allegations of various public bodies and agencies are answered, but the corrective measures are minimal and not very specific. The most important change in this declaration was to stop extracting sand (to be used in the landfills) in the Pedrido area and not to act in beach ofRegueiro (ZEC Betanzos-Mandeo). The project still has serious errors in everything planned in the ría, since it is based on the erroneous idea that beaches have only a recreational use for the population, when they are living environments that provide multiple benefits to the environment. .

There was a first bidding for the work in the BOE of May 23th 2015, which was later cancelled due to administrative defects.

The Delegation of As Mariñas, along with other conservationist and ecological organizations and associations (Hábitat, O Rabo do Galo, Plataforma pola Defensa da Ría de Sada e Betanzos, Adega-Coruña, Arco Iris) presented a letter to the Coastal Demarcation of Galicia in August 2015 opposing this regeneration of the beach of Sada.

Now the bidding remains the same and the Delegation of As Mariñas of the Galician Society of Natural History is still opposed to this work, for the same reasons:

  • The aggregate extraction point for use in the fill (on a sandy bank in front of Lorbé) is harmful to inshore fishing because it is a breeding ground for several commercial species.
  • When sand is extracted in this area, fine particles will be emitted which will affect the Sada I and Sada II cultivation areas (above all beds), without the planned corrective measures being able to guarantee their effectiveness.
  • In this area (in front of Lorbé), no samples were taken to analyse its chemical composition, when it is known that all the Galician rías have sediments contaminated by heavy metals. Let us remember that they will be deposited later in the beach of Sada.
  • In the Environmental impact assessment (EIA) the existence of a zosteral on the beach does not appear when it was more than evident to the naked eye already at that time (see fig.1), but curiously the association of Sada is concerned about the breeding area of the cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis), but they do not mention that they lay their eggs in large numbers on the zostera plants. Let us remember that there is the OSPAR convention (Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Northwest Atlantic, OSPAR in Galician) which, among other things, contains recommendations to protect and improve the habitats of seagrass meadows. Furthermore, Zostera Nolti is listed as a vulnerable species in the Atlantic under Royal Decree 139/2011, of 4 February, “for the development of the List of Wild Species under Special Protection Regime and the Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species”.
  • The supply of sand to create a 70-metre wide beach in a dry zone plus as much of a submerged zone will eliminate all this seagrass meadows (see Fig. 2). Contrary to the opinion of many citizens, the zostera fixes the suspended sediments, clarifies the water and decontaminates the waters. These benefits will be felt as the seagrass meadows evolve and increase in density.
  • It is curious that the old Directorate General of Conservation of the Autonomous Government of Galicia (Xunta de Galicia) warns of the existence of meadows of zostera in the beach of Gandaríoand does not speak anything of the huge zosteral that already existed in Sada. The remediation in Gandario is going to try not to fill in with sand in a 25 m contour around these areas.
  • The incorporated sand will be covered again with fine sediments in a few years, as it happened with the experience of the sand contributions in 1994.  It will be a useless waste of public resources. The beach of Sada tends to accumulate silt, as the circulation of currents is very much impeded by the jetty of the marina along with the contributions of the River Maior itself.
  • In relation to the abovementioned,  it is shocking that the Coastal Demarcation of Galicia, in a reply to the council of Sada in the Environmental impact assessment, recognizes that this contribution will possibly end up covered with silt and therefore, in theory, less “pleasant” for bathing in a few years.
  • At no time in the project is there any talk of solving the serious problems of pollution in the area, especially due to the contributions of the River Maior. Let us remember that the treatment plant of the Bergondo industrial area and of Espiritu Santo-Sada discharges into this river. The water on the beach is not suitable for bathing and the project does not tackle the problem.
  • The Environmental Impact Statement does not mention that the beach of Sada is an important area for water birds in the ría of Betanzos. The disappearance of the zostera meadows will eliminate this feeding and resting area. Any idea to promote ornithological tourism will have to wait for better days.

In short, the “bathing benefits” of regeneration will be minimal and only for one or two summers. The greed of a short-sighted tourist sector will destroy a long-term source of wealth for all citizens (whether they live off the fish stocks or not).

Zostera meadow at low tide. Beach of Sada.

Reason triumphs in Sada

“Studying, disseminating and defending the natural heritage of Galicia.” This has been SGHN’s motto and purpose for almost 45 years. The work is anything but easy, but sometimes reason manages to make its way and prevail, encouraging to preserve. Today we can congratulate ourselves on a great success: the Ministry of the Environment and the State Coastal Department in Galicia have decided not to carry out the “regeneration” project of the beach of Sada, which would mean the destruction of an important meadow in Zostera nolti and Zostera marina. It was necessary to insist with tenacity and the most solid scientific arguments and evidences in front of the Ministry of Environment, the OSPAR Commission or Spanish Committee of the IUCN and the DX of Natural Heritage. It was a gray, laborious and thankless work, but essential as the facts show now. Without a doubt, today is a great day.

Approximate distribution on the beach of Sada and Gandarío of the meadows of Zostera nolti (green) and Z. marina (blue), according to surveys by the Delegation of As Mariñas of the Galician Society of Natural History and information from Verónica García-Redondo, on a photograph by SIGPAC (Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment)

Text translated by Sara Santos Trota (student of the Degree of Translation and Interpretation of the University of Vigo)