Blue Flags are turning out to be a bone of contention, with the Cyprus Greens saying they can be misleading as they still fly on heavily polluted beaches but Cymepa – the Cyprus Marine Environment Protection Association – rubbished these claims as “hateful”.

Cyprus Greens Limassol head Andreas Mavrikios reported that there had been serious incidents of pollution in Limassol this summer, however the Blue Flags were still flying on those beaches.

He mentioned the May 17 warning issued by the British bases over high microbial content in Lady’s Mile seawater, the June 26 oil spill in Moni/Pyrgos, the July 12 mazut leak from the dated submarine pipeline in the same area and the August 9 advice against swimming in Santa Barbara waters off Ayios Tychonas.

The Cyprus Greens said they reported the incidents to the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), which runs the Blue Flag programme. However, the complaint was referred to Cymepa.

Cymepa’s general secretary Michalis Ierides said the claims were “full of inaccuracies” and riddled with “blatant lies”.

He said the cases of pollution mentioned were not Blue Flag beaches, with the exception of Santa Barbara, where the Blue Flag was “immediately taken down”.

Ierides said the system has been “operating flawlessly since 1994” – indeed on a voluntary basis before Cyprus acceded to the EU in 2004.

He also said the proper procedure for filing a complaint was first through the national carrier before a report was sent to the FEE.

Ierides furthermore explained that all beaches flying the Blue Flag were listed online along with the results of seawater tests.

“Blue Flags are not awarded to polluted beaches. It is the most reliable mark of quality for beaches in Cyprus and around the world and we are proud of the work that has been done and is still being carried out, despite the fact that some individuals obsessively and hatefully are trying to belittle it with blatant lies and inaccuracies. The shame is returned to them,” Ierides added.

This year a total of 64 beaches and two marinas were awarded Blue Flags.