Ecologistas en Acción has denounced the authorization of research projects and hydrocarbon extraction on the part of the Spanish Government. They have broken the national and communitarian regulation concerning habitats protection and also the international one concerning the Law of the Sea.

Ecologistas en Acción has warned that seismic prospecting campaigns can cause high damage to fauna, which use waters of the Canarian Archipelago and the Gibraltarian Strait as passway in their migration routes. The Government is forced to protect these routes, according to what was agreed in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

In order to denounce and inform these plans, the ecologist organization has carried out a document, where characteristics of the oil prospection and extraction activities and its repercussions on the ecosystems of the Alboran Sea, Canary Islands and Asturias are compiled.

The prospecting seismic methods will be carried out through compressed air cannons “Air-guns”; they are able to generate longitudinal waves which define the marine ground and subsoil structure. These waves have different intensity levels (180-250 dB). They are intolerable for marine fauna and can cause cetacean's beach.

In addition, these seismic methods can cause damages on those fishing resources that are present in the affected zones by prospecting. We have seen thanks to studies on similar campaigns done in the North Sea that fish undergo behaviour changes and lesions on air bladder, eyes, inner ear and sideline have been described. This would constitute a new pressure on fisheries; for example the anchovy.

The second stage of the plan would consist of opening well perforations. We would use a mixture of minerals and chemical products. Waste that would come from the perforation would be thrown to the sea. In this way, the mixture with the clay from the bottom would produce a kind of oil mud. This mud is lethal for the fauna and it could bury submerged habitats of high ecological value; for example: the marine seagrass meadows and the brown algae forests. This activity produces devastating effects on all what is found within a radio of 500 metres to the perforation. Substantial changes can be seen in an area of 20 square kilometres.

During the oil extraction stage, compounds like heavy metals or aromatic hydrocarbons are released; they can affect the food chain and therefore the human being, causing damages in health.

Ecologistas en Acción has criticized the Spanish Government's attitude. The Government has authorized the carrying out of plans, which put at risk valuable ecological, economic and cultural resources.