"It's ridiculous. The beach is a living ecosystem. When you spray bleach on it, you're killing everything," said Maria Doloré Iglesias Benitez, head of a local marine conservation organization.
Zahara de los Atunes Beach
The fishing village of Zahara de los Atunes is a nesting ground for ring-necked plovers and other migratory birds. During the six weeks the beach was closed, Benítez hoped the number of nests in the area would double this year. “Now I’m worried that the tractors spraying disinfectant have crushed the eggs,” she said. Benítez’s group has filed a complaint with the local government, attracting the attention of major environmental groups like Greenpeace Spain.
"Spraying a beach in the middle of bird breeding season or during the development of invertebrate networks that support coastal fisheries is not one of Donald Trump's ideas. It is happening in Zahara de los Atunes," Greenpeace Spain wrote on Twitter, referring to the US president's recent proposal to study injecting disinfectants into the human body to fight Covid-19.
Beaches began to get more crowded from April 26, as Spain eased restrictions.
An official from the Andalusian regional government said they were looking into the incident amid reports that authorities and the Zahara de los Atunes business association had carried out a beach disinfection operation without permission.
Agustín Conejo, a local official, said the move was motivated solely by a desire to protect children. “I admit it was a mistake,” he said. “But it was done with good intentions.”
Spain is the world's second-largest outbreak with 232,128 cases and 23,822 deaths as of April 29. Spain eased restrictions on April 26, allowing children to play outside for an hour within a 1km radius with supervision. Adults will be allowed to exercise and walk outside from next weekend if the epidemic situation improves.
