BRITISH holidaymakers have been warned about visiting nearly 50 ‘black flag’ beaches in Spain. A Spanish environmental campaign group has named and shamed seaside spots with problems, including chemical pollution, marine waste, over-development and sewage discharges. 4 Playa Blanca in Lanzarote has been included on the list Credit: Getty 4 Talamanca in Ibiza is another popular spot to receive a black flag Credit: Getty 4 The Balearic island is one of several holiday hotspots to feature on the list Credit: Alamy Talamanca Beach in Ibiza features on the list, which has been compiled by Ecologists in Action, after being singled out over the catastrophic damage done to underwater plants by boats anchoring illegally off the coast.
A treatment plant pumping salty wastewater into the sea is another issue for people to consider when heading to the popular beach destination. El Amerador Beach in El Campello just north of Alicante has been given one of Ecologists in Action’s 48 black flags as well. Disease-causing fecal pollution at the beach earned it the shameful marker, which was blamed on a nearby poorly-maintained pumping station.
The organisation highlighted two recent instances of human waste entering the sea at the Costa Blanca beach, one in March and one in April. The Canary Islands , where thousands of locals took to the streets in April in an anti-mass tourism protest to highlight problems including ocean pollution, also got a drubbing in the report. A spokesman for Ec.