FIRST TERM BLOG. MAR MENOR TROUBLE

What is this blog about?

In this blog, we will inform everyone about what is happening around us in terms of environmental disasters. In the first term, we have been dealing with the environmental disaster that is taking place in the Mar Menor. We will talk about what happened; when it happened & why it happened! We cover different Mass Media sections, such as our;

MF2030R Newspaper MF2030R Radio Podcast MF2030News Video

Our Erasmus partners from ISS Piero Calamandrei came with us to discover and learn about the big ecological disaster that is happening just a few kilometers away from where we live. They helped us with the cleaning of all the rubbish that we found at the seashore. As good reporters, we explained to them the main facts and factors that are happening in the Mar Menor. But, we were not alone, FAUNATURA helped us both. Faunatura explained to us the main factors that caused this big disaster and the main consequences that it can have on a major scale, they also showed us how the tests for knowing the amount of pollution work. Thanks to them we all could understand in detail what is going on.

In collaboration with:

What happened in Mar Menor?

Mar Menor is a saltwater lagoon located in the south of Murcia. On the 12th of October 2019, hundreds of dead fish washed up on the shores of Mar Menor.; leaving local residents and environmentalists shocked.

Why did this happen?

The local government has blamed hot weather for the deaths of the fish but scientists believe pollution from local farming has degraded the water quality, causing this environmental disaster.

WWF España, an environmental group, said the principal cause of the latest fish deaths was "pollution from intensive agriculture in the area". The group believes that there is a lack of oxygen in the water. This is caused by algae that can bloom in waters that have been polluted with chemicals from human activity. This algae blocks sunlight and reduces oxygen in the water, making it difficult for the fishes to survive.

How does this affect the world?

Local residents, along with people from all over Spain have held protests to demand action since this disaster is affecting many things such as:

Businesses: Many businesses are being affected, for example, restaurants and bars that specialize in seafood. If thousands of fish are suddenly dying, these restaurants are going out of business since they have nothing to serve their customers.
The fishing industry: many fishermen that worked in Mar Menor have been left without a job since there is nothing to catch.
Fishing distribution: if there are no fish, there's nothing to distribute, which also leaves people without a job.

As you can see; this crisis isn't just an environmental crisis, it's an economical crisis as well. Being left with no food, businesses or workers isn't great for the economy!

Over 70,000 people have protested. Fernando López Miras, the president of Murcias' government, wrote a letter to Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, since Mr. Miras believes that the regional government does not have the power to take action.

What is Mare Nostrum doing to help?

Recently, IES Mare Nostrum visited Mar Menor, to protest and raise awareness on this issue, in collaboration with Erasmus+KA229. We are participating in the Erasmus project, "Do you know where you live?" in cooperation with the school IISS "Piero Calamandrei" in Torino, Italia. They helped us to build an awareness campaign about the situation in the Mar Menor. You will find more information in our other sections, such as the newspaper article, the radio podcast, and our Breaking News Video. We interviewed some pupils from IISS Piero Calamandrei...