By Pablo Fernández Cermeño
Ancón,
The spill on
"Beaches closed. Highly contaminated due to the presence of oil in the sea and sand," a warning sign reads.
Nearby, a team of workers from a company that specializes in industrial waste and biocontamination use hoes to clean the sand.
"
Dozens of other local fishers are in the same situation.
"I used to fish during the day, arrive at night, I was able to sleep at night, have dinner with my children or go for a walk. Not anymore," Simón adds.
His daily life was turned upside down on
Older fishermen and local line fishermen, who fished from dry land, have had to turn to other jobs to make money.
The lack of work is palpable from the Ancón boardwalk, where dozens of small boats wait moored and idle.
Isabelita, owner of a small restaurant on Ancón's dock, says
"We are in a state of disgrace, my friend. Now look at the stalls, all empty," she tells Efe, adding that their only customers now are deep-sea fishermen. "Last year, the beaches had just opened after Covid. In the first week of January there were already a lot of people. Now, the oil came and they closed the beach again."
Ancón officials tell Efe that all the beaches remain closed to bathing out of caution and due to an administrative contradiction.
"We have the technical evidence (...) with a sampling from October where all the results are satisfactory for the potential return of fishing activities and commercial activities," Vásquez said, calling for an updated report from the OEFA on the marine situation to put an end to administrative uncertainty.
This lack of certainty over the state of the marine environment has cost the local community over
He has called on
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