The University of Granada has come out on the side of restricting comercial and sports Fishing around the cliffs of the Punta de la Mona.

This area of the seabed is categorised as Zonas de Especial Conservación (ZEC) yet despite this angling is permitted off the rocks, but that will soon change. The coral colonies are littered with nets and fishing lines.

For this reason, zoologists at the Environmental Department at the University of Granada began to actually repopulate the seabed with more coral although they don’t think that it is enough to tip the balance, which is why they want the Junta to protect the area.

The Junta announced that this was their intention at the end of October when they published the draft project in the official regional gazette (Boletín Oficial de la Junta de Andalucia = BOJA)

If this project is passed into law then any type of sports fishing (angling/scuba, etc) will be forbidden, much to the dismay of fishing-sports enthusiasts

Now, the Departamento de Zoología de la Universidad de Granada has come out in support for the prohibition: “Being able to count on a natural area in a good state of conservation should be a reason to feel proud, as it will give prestige to our shoreline,” read a statement from the department.

Marine experts consider that fishing boats with drawling nets and recreational craft in general, dropping anchors on the seabed are causing extensive damage to the area and the growth of coral colonies is a slow process and it is not regenerating as fast as it is being destroyed.

Against the idea of putting a prohibition on fishing sports off the Punta de la Mona is the main opposition party in Almuñécar, the Convergencia Andaluza (Benavides) which submitted a statement before the Junta in support of the fishing-sport federations, associations and clubs that operated within the ZEC.

(News: Almunecar/Herradura, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)