When Canary Islands officials embarked on the complex task of creating an artificial beach in the town of San Andrés in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, they had an idyllic picture in mind; It’s an image attractive enough to attract legions of tourists eager to hold up your umbrellas. and towels on a golden sand. This happened in the 50s and 70s.

Today Las Teresitas beach is indeed an idyllic destination for holidaymakers, but it is also known for having almost become a “sanctuary” for other creatures that probably did not enter the equation half a century ago: sharks.

“Welcome to Las Teresitas”. To know the origin of Las Teresitas beach, at least as we know it today, we need to go to Spain, where it was proposed to transform the beach, which until then had been a beach, until the third quarter of the 20th century, that is, during the period of Franco’s Developmentalism. Stony with rocks, stones and a small strip of black sand, in an idyllic setting with its own breakwater and sand worthy of the Caribbean. Purpose: to attract visitors, of course.

Canary Benidorm. With the aim of transforming the area into a major urban and tourist center, it was proposed to build a hotel, 15,000 attractions, waterfront buildings and urbanizations on top of the military battery, in the purest style of Benidorm. But the most interesting was its “heart”, its star piece: a wide artificial beach where both tourists and residents of Santa Cruz could swim, who until then had to go to stony beaches punished for encroachments. It is affected by the high tide of the sea.

A Saharan beach in the Canary Islands. Approval came from the Ministry in 1967, and three years later the Council of Ministers approved the reform of the Zoning Plan of the region. While he’s telling Notification LogWork has started on the breakwater, which is a 1 kilometer long and wide breakwater built 150 meters off the coast. Las Teresitas was sheltered from the waves in its shelter and became an enormous saltwater pond. Ideal for relaxing dives.

looking for sand. However, one important detail remained: sand. Instead of black grain, a lighter grain was chosen, brought in four million sacks carried by ship from the Western Sahara desert, then a Spanish province. A large beach surface, approximately 1.3 kilometers long and 100 meters wide, was covered with them. By 1972, Santa Cruz already had a new, expanded sandy area with golden sands and calm waters… and, coincidentally, a few urban legends stating that scorpions and exotic animals traveled in bags.

Success among tourists… and more. It wasn’t a bad bet. At least from a tourist perspective. Today we would perhaps see with different eyes the idea of ​​haphazardly changing a beach, building a huge breakwater and placing 240,000 tons of Saharan sand, but half a century later Las Teresitas ranks among the best beaches in Santa Claus. Cruz de Tenerife. Besides an ideal setting for selfies, visitors will also find kiosks and hammocks here.

It’s not all bathers at Las Teresitas. Besides locals and tourists, there are other creatures that take a special interest in the area: Squatina SquatinaBetter known as angel sharks, they are characterized by a broad, flattened body, usually measuring around 150 centimeters in length when they reach adulthood. As a nocturnal species, they usually swim along the bottom at night to feed on fish, rays, crustaceans and molluscs, and spend the day hidden in the sand at the bottom of the beach.

So why are they there? In 2016, a group of researchers confirmed that Las Teresitas was a breeding ground for angel sharks and came up with some interesting ideas. Although there is evidence that it was already a widespread species in the 19th century, in the 70s it was frequently caught by longlines and located in other parts of the Canary archipelago, such as El Hierro, La Palma, Gran Canaria or Lanzarote. Scientists point out several features of San Andrés beach that may make it a particularly attractive place.

Confirming that the frequency of observation of the samples was higher and the location of the pups was easier, the researchers said, “The results of this study confirm that the beach is used as a breeding ground by angel sharks in the region.” relative to other points. Not only that: babies also often stay or return to Las Teresitas. As for how long they have been there, they acknowledge that there has been evidence of angel sharks since at least 1996.

Heaven of peace for angels. It seems like holidaymakers aren’t the only ones finding a haven of peace here. Noting the changes, experts say, “Las Teresitas meets the conditions described for the majority of coastal shark breeding grounds: calm areas with waters protected from currents and waves, high food production for fry and juveniles, and low predators.” Its physiognomy with open mouths means that the inland waters remain calm throughout the year, even during storms.”

Protected. Since Las Teresitas is a swimming area, professional and recreational fishing is also prohibited on the beach. It is only allowed outside the breakwaters towards open waters. “This protection may be the reason for the high density of juveniles and adults of fisheries species,” they think. Thanks to this advantage, juvenile angel sharks have abundant prey resources such as guelde, bream or cuttlefish.

endangered species. Just because we can see them relatively frequently in Las Teresitas (as long as our eyes are well trained to spot them in the background, of course) doesn’t mean angel sharks are free to roam. On the contrary. Although its historical range extends from Norway and Sweden to the coasts of Morocco, the Sahara and the Canary Islands, which include the Mediterranean or the Black Sea, it has been damaged by trawling in the last half century. The Spanish archipelago takes advantage of the absence of this type of fishing due to the depth and topography of the sea bed.

It is thought to be on the verge of extinction in Irish waters, and its global population is believed to have suffered a “drastic decline” in recent years, as ULPGC Marine Science PhD David Jiménez explained in October. In 2019, even the population of angel sharks in the Canary Islands was included in Spain’s Catalog of Endangered Species; This is in line with the decision of the International Union for Conservation of Conservation (IUCN), which considers these sharks to be endangered.

The “frictions” of living together. Combining aspects is not always easy. Las Teresillas is no exception. Its dual status as a tourist center and a “sanctuary” for angel sharks sometimes leads to certain friction, especially when bathers step on babies buried in the sand during the day. The result: some occasional bites, usually not serious, and specimens with deformities precisely because of the blows they received.

Although these types of conflicts receive the most media coverage, there are also more serious problems that are easier to solve. One of these is the accumulation of garbage at the bottom of the beach. Another is sport fishing, which has continued to hunt such creatures since 2010, ignoring the regulations that protect them, at least as the Canary Islands Shark Alliance condemned in 2014.

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Pictures | Dronepicr (Flickr), Ania Mendrek (Flickr) and Philippe Guillaume (Cabocanarias.com – Flickr)

*An earlier version of this article was published in June 2023.