New Jersey of Real Betis for environmental awareness© Real Betis
The Spanish Club of the Real Betis League launched a new kit made of an invasive algae on Thursday to raise awareness about an ecological crisis on the Andalusian coast. The shirt is made with recycled ocean plastic, as well as a textile cloth created from brown algae. Called Rugulopteryx Okamurae, algae have quickly spread in biodiversity, fishing and mediterranean tourism, and have proven expensive to eliminate. Betis, who presented the shirt in Tarifa, a city particularly affected by the issue, will use it on February 16 against the Real Sociedad in the League.
“The presence of invasive algae on our coasts is destroying our ecosystem,” Betis wrote in a publication on social networks.
“To face them, the first kit made with fibers created from these algae was born.”
Marine Biologist Candela Sánchez Atienzar told AFP the algae, natives of the North Pacific, it probably reached the Spanish waters in 2015 “through the ballast waters of the merchant ships.”
“When it arrived, it began to extend out of control, there is no invasion in the history of science described on this scale,” he said.
Rafael Muela Pastor, director of the Betis Social Foundation, said it was a good opportunity to raise awareness about the problem.
“The news came to invasive Asian algae were causing many problems in all sectors in the area,” he told AFP.
“We wanted to take advantage of this situation in some way to get attention to the importance of taking care of our oceans and seas.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a union feed).
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