Compiled with the help of artificial intelligence, based on Spanish-language information. Source below the article.
Port authority accepts Nueva Pescanova’s withdrawal
The Las Palmas Port Authority accepted on Thursday Nueva Pescanova’s withdrawal from its plans to build the world’s first commercial octopus farm on its land — a controversial project that, by a quirk of the calendar, has been buried precisely on International Octopus Day.
Speaking at the end of the Port Authority’s board of directors meeting, its president, Beatriz Calzada, recalled that the company itself had already made public this summer, in August, that it was pulling out of the project, which had prompted protests from various animal welfare and environmental groups.
Opponents of the farm put forward several arguments, built around three main lines of objection: the octopus’s high cognitive capacity, the cruelty attributed to the breeding and slaughter method, and the installation’s impact on the marine environment, given the large volume of fish that would have been needed as feed.
With Nueva Pescanova renouncing the initial concession of the land at the port of La Luz where the facility was to have been located, that site is now freed up and represents an opportunity for other companies to develop their businesses, Calzada noted.
A fitting date for the announcement
In 2007, the forum The Octopus News Magazine Online decided to establish an International Octopus Day to promote knowledge of these cephalopods. The date chosen is a play on words: the 8th for the number of limbs the animal has, and October for the similarity of the words in English (october/octopus).
Port authority to take over maritime traffic control
Separately, at its board meeting on this 8 October, the Port Authority agreed to assume direct provision of the service for the ordering, coordination and control of maritime traffic within its area of operation.
“We have already received all the favourable reports for the transfer of the staff who have been carrying out this work up to now, and who, therefore, from 15 October will become part of the Port Authority, and we can then run the service for the ordering, coordination and control of maritime traffic directly,” she said.
Calzada added that taking on the management of that service had been a goal the organisation had set itself and “a matter we have been working on for three years, practically.”
IT and maritime control contracts approved
On the processing of files, Calzada said approval had been given to the contract for the supply, expansion and maintenance of IT equipment for the Port Authority’s data processing centre, which will be put out to tender with a base price of 1.9 million euros over a four-year term, with no right of extension.
“This is an important action, because the proper functioning of that centre is fundamental to our day-to-day activity and to security matters,” she noted.
The board of directors also gave its approval to the award to the company Iades Business Partners, for 499,495 euros, of the contract for the supply, implementation and maintenance of a Maritime Control Centre platform, she added.
Sotavento shopping centre eviction confirmed
The president of the Port Authority also reported that the meeting had been informed of the administrative eviction and clearance of the company Canarias Óptima Profesional Sociedad Limitada from the Sotavento shopping centre at the Muelle Deportivo, where only one business remains active — an Allende chain restaurant.
Nevertheless, the timescale for the Port Authority to realise its wish to bring that shopping centre back into use by granting new concessions to companies interested in operating there remains uncertain, as legal disputes are still pending resolution in the courts with Sotavento SL, the company that managed the premises, and with those responsible for the Allende restaurant.
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