A river in Spain was littered with dead fish on Thursday, a day after a huge blaze engulfed a nearby industrial waste disposal plant near Barcelona, local officials said.

"Some of the water used to extinguish the fire has reached the Besos river, greatly affecting its fauna," the Catalan Water Agency which manages water resources in the northeastern region of Catalonia said in a statement.

The agency said it had declared a state of emergency "to be able to act in the basin of the Besos river", which flows into the Mediterranean.

Spanish television showed images of people collecting dead carp and eels from the river, as well as of fish lying on their sides in shallow water, struggling to breathe.

"The phenomenon is not widespread but we found many dead specimens scattered between the site of the fire and the mouth of the river," the statement said.

Officials from the water agency were taking samples of water and sediment from the river to assess the extent of the damage.

The agency said the "recovery of the affected stretch of river" would be done "in a natural way" but could not estimate how long this could take.

Nearly 30 teams of firefighters were deployed to tackle the blaze, which broke out before dawn on Wednesday at a firm that recycles solvents and industrial waste in Montornes del Valles, some 15 kilometres (10 miles) northeast of Barcelona, sending vast plumes of black smoke into the air.

The regional civil protection service threw up a security cordon around the area, and urged local residents to stay at home with their windows closed for several hours.

Green group Ecologists in Action noted that it had previously warned of the dangers the plant posed.

It said the impact of the water used to put out the blaze on the river's biodiversity was "very serious", coming after serious efforts were made to restore its fauna.

In first for Israel, resort bans disposables on beaches
Jerusalem (AFP) Dec 12, 2019 - Israel's southernmost city has decided to ban disposable cups and bags from its beaches to protect the Red Sea from the "threat" of plastic, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.

The amendment to Eilat's municipal code, which was approved late on Wednesday, makes the resort Israel's first to adopt such regulations.

Beachgoers will be forbidden from bringing disposable items onto the beach, whether made of plastic, aluminium, cardboard or paper.

Such items will not be sold at kiosks or restaurants by the shore.

Whether cutlery, cups, bags, wrappings or drinking straws, "disposable items break down into particles of various sizes on land and in the sea, harming terrestrial and aquatic animals" and constituting an eyesore, the text accompanying the new bylaw said.

In the absence of national legislation on the issue, Israel's beach resorts have taken the initiative, with the Mediterranean coastal city of Herzliya preparing similar regulations.

"Eilat has unique natural resources," mayor Meir Yitzhak Halevy said in a statement. "We must safeguard them in every way."

The bylaw, which exempts bottles, needs to be approved by the interior ministry before taking effect.

The city proposes to fine offenders up to 730 shekels ($210, 190 euros).

Israel lags behind the European Union in phasing out the use of disposable plastic.

Maya Jacobs, CEO of Zalul, an environmental NGO dedicated to protecting Israel's seas and rivers, praised Eilat's move, which she called "groundbreaking."

She urged all of Israel's coastal cities to adopt similar measures but said Eilat's ban example was particularly important because of the coral reef that lies a short distance from the beach.

"It's an area that must be protected, especially with the rare corals," Jacobs told AFP.

Coral populations around the world are undergoing bleaching and dying due to global warming, but the population in the northern Red Sea has remained stable due to its unique heat resistance.

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