The Spanish Catalonian coast is bathed with the waters of the Mediterranean sea and its wildlife.
During summer, many animals such as the sperm whale, sea turtle, dolphin and even orca carry out their annual migration. But despite migratory patterns, the Mediterranean contains 18% of all marine species cataloged, of which between 25% and 30% are not found anywhere else in the world.
Likewise during the summer months, humans also carry out some sort of “migration” from the city to the beach. But on July 15 on Ocata’s beach (located in Masnou), someone spotted a fin in the warm water. As a result, Masnou’s and Premia’s townhalls decided to close their beaches.
That fin was from a blue shark of no more than 1.5 m that was probably lost. In fact, three blue sharks were spotted in total in the waters of Masnou.
Ramón Sancho, chairman of the medical committee of the International Federation of Diving, deemed the situation “grotesque” because Spain has not encountered a blue shark attack or any other shark attack in the last 25 years.
“It’s crazy that beaches are closed by the presence of a species that we’ve gotten tired of seeing. In other countries they would laugh and I’m sure they will make fun of us. “
Elena Boadas, director of the education area of CRAM and marine animal specialist, says:
“The presence of sharks in the Catalan coast is quite common, but obviously they do not always come so close to the beach and they are often only seen by the fishermen who go in boats or divers that deviate slightly from the coast.”
The sharks, who were certainly lost, approached the coast more than usual, and at noon were spotted by rescue personnel. They then disappeared, so it appears that the beaches will reopen soon.
Until recently blue sharks were very common in the Mediterranean sea, but their populations are declining and are already part of the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), although in the lower risk category.