Depicted of natural enchanting features the island is usually chosen by tourists for its cristal clear waters, golden sand beaches and breathtaking landscapes.
What many tourists don’t know before arriving there, is that the shores of the island are surrounded by tankers.
As soon as I arrived in Gran Canaria,one of the two capitals of Canary Islands, I immediately noticed these huge tankers and suddenly a sense of sadness overcame me.
Pablo, a local boy that I met there, explained me that both the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife are used by a small fleet of dangerous single-hull vessels operating at low cost and engaged in the supply of fuel to the African coast.
So basically, the spanish government sells the permission to national and especially foreign oil companies to wash and to recharge the tankers in Canary’s ports.
This not only makes the landscape view unpleasant but also enormously pollutes the environment and it’s extremely toxic for all those people who go there to swim or simply sunbathing.
This pollution affects the biodiversity of the place changing the ecosystem and therefore, making the environment uninhabitable for the millions of aminals and marine plant species which have always lived there.
As always, the interests of nations come before the well being, health and the safeness of the people and the environment.
Sustainable Travels 