The ecologist group in the Axarquía, GENA-Ecologistas en Acción, wants access to Playa El Cañuelo restricted because of the negative impact of too much human presence.
The said beach lies within the Natural Park of Los Acantilados de Maro-Cerro Gordo on the Málaga side of the provincial limit.
Accordingly, the ecologists sent a letter to the Board of Agriculture, Livestock and Fishing belonging to the Junta, because on peak days there can be up to 3,000 beach users down there. The ecologists used Google Earth satellite images to estimate how many people were in the park by counting the parked cars and calculating three persons per car.
For this reason they requested that access be limited to las calas (coves) within the protected area of the Natural Park. And it is not the first letter that they have sent for this on this subject.
The Chairman of GENA-Ecologistas en Acción, Rafael Yus, accuses the Nerja Town Hall of always pressuring the Junta to be organise the park in benefit of the “insatiable tourist industry.” Fortunately, says Sr. Yus, the Junta has always responded that the park cannot be organised to fit a tourism criteria.
The park has a Plan de Ordenación de los Recursos Naturales, which has the unfortunate acronym of PORN., which guarantees its protection under Ley 2/1989. The park was also more recently included within the Red Europea Natura 2000, (Decreto 6/2015).
In conclusion, Sr. Yus, points out that the area was made into a natural park with its Zona Especialmente Protegida de Importancia del Mediterráneo status to protect it from excessive human intrusion. In fact, the PORN expressely prohibits activity linked to tourism in order to prevent the deterioration of the area, unlike other natural parks which do permit a certain level of ‘soft tourism,’ in areas that are not ‘sensitive.’
Finally, the ecologists are especially critical with the arrangement between the building developer, Larios and Nerja Town Hall which they are trying to push through despite widespread opposition in the Maro area, not to mention the Town Hall pushing snorkelling in the park’s waters whereas such activity should be strictly controlled.
Editorial Comment: the present Mayor of Nerja heading a PP-lead Town Council has a disastrous record as far as protecting the environment; i.e., the illegal waste dumps in protected areas, which is going through the courts at the moment.
(News: Maro, Nerja, Axarquia, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)