Iran’s decision to launch about 180 high-speed ballistic missiles at Israel indicates that Tehran sought to inflict serious damage in Tuesday’s night attack, unlike the well-telegraphed drone and missile attack in April.

Their sheer speed makes ballistic weapons challenging to intercept, but the initial reports of no fatalities within Israel and one in the West Bank would suggest despite the numbers of missiles launched it was a military failure, though some of the weapons or fragments appear to have struck the ground.

Tehran’s Emad and Ghadr missiles, used earlier this year, are estimated to travel at six times the speed of sound on impact or more, and take 12 minutes to fly from Iran. That would be more than 4,600mph. But Iran said it deployed the even faster, hypersonic Fatteh-2, with a maximum speed estimated at 10,000mph.

Iran has been estimated to have an arsenal of about 3,000 ballistic missiles, though the original calculation was made by the US two-and-a-half years ago, so the number may well be higher. Tehran will have wanted to retain the vast majority of its stock in case the conflict with Israel further escalates into a full-blown war.

Firing so many ballistic missiles in a few minutes also represents a serious effort to overwhelm or exhaust Israel’s air defences. Because they are sophisticated, the interceptor missiles are expensive – and their stocks uncertain.

Stopping ballistics in flight is principally the task of the long-range US-Israeli Arrow 3 and Arrow 2 systems, first used during the Israel-Hamas war, which are supported by the medium-range David’s Sling system. The better-known Iron Dome is used for short-range interceptions, often of rockets fired by Hamas from Gaza.

In April, a former financial adviser to the IDF chief of staff said that an Arrow missile typically costs $3.5m (£2.8m) a time, and David’s Sling interceptors $1m (£800,000). Eliminating 100 or more missiles would easily run into hundreds of millions of dollars – though the missiles themselves will have cost Iran £80,000 each or more.

At that time, Tehran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said it had given neighbouring countries 72 hours’ notice of a planned attack – which took place a fortnight after Israel bombed Iran’s embassy in Damascus. This time, Iran acted within days of Israel’s killing of the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah on Friday.

Nevertheless, warnings that an attack was going to take place on Tuesday began circulating from US sources a couple of hours or so before the missiles were launched. It is unclear how the information would have been obtained but it may have come from satellite imagery, communications intercepts or a diplomatic notification. There were unconfirmed reports that Iran notified Russia before the attack.

It is not immediately clear how many Iranian missiles hit the ground; in April’s attack, of the 120 ballistic missiles fired by Iran only nine got through, causing minor damage to two airbases, meaning in narrow military terms that that attack was also a failure.

Iran had used more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistics in April, but on Tuesday dispensed with slower-moving drones – indicating that they are felt to be ineffective against an opponent with a sophisticated air defence system. It may not have used cruise missiles either.

Shahed drones, also being heavily used by Russia in Ukraine, are relatively slow and can be easily shot down by fighter jets. Cruise missiles rely on manoeuvrability to evade air defences, but are also slow compared with ballistic weapons – Iran’s Paveh cruise missile travels at about 500mph.

Ukraine, which has been constantly attacked by Russian missiles and drones since the start of the full-scale invasion, released its own interception rates in August. Its success proportion would be lower than Israel’s, partly because the length of the war has meant it has run out of some types of short-range interceptor missiles.

Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that while 63% of drones were intercepted and 67% of cruise missiles were stopped, that dropped to 4.5% when Russian ballistic missiles were concerned.

Sean “Diddy” Combs, the hip-hop mogul who was arrested last month after an indictment by a federal grand jury, is now facing even more allegations of sexual misconduct.

On Tuesday, Tony Buzbee, a Texas-based attorney, revealed at a press conference that he is representing 120 accusers who allege misconduct against Combs over the course of two decades.

“We will expose the enablers who enabled this conduct behind closed doors. We will pursue this matter no matter who the evidence implicates,” Buzbee said in the press conference.

“The biggest secret in the entertainment industry, that really wasn’t a secret at all, has finally been revealed to the world. The wall of silence has now been broken.”

Andrew Van Arsdale, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, told the Washington Post that the forthcoming filings were “unprecedented in scope” and included allegations from both men and women, who ranged in age from nine to 38 at the time of the alleged attacks.

Van Arsdale added that there will be 120 individual lawsuits filed in New York, Los Angeles and Miami in the coming weeks.

In his preview of lawsuits to come, Buzbee said “many powerful people … many dirty secrets”. He added that his team has “collected pictures, video, texts”.

The lawyer said he’s had more than 3,000 individuals come forward to his office with accusations against Combs and that he plans to begin filing lawsuits in various states.

Buzbee said that the new civil claims against Combs will include “violent sexual assault or rape, facilitated sex with a controlled substance, dissemination of video recordings, sexual abuse of minors”.

He added: “It’s a long list already, but because of the nature of this case, we are going to make sure damn sure we are right before we do that. These names will shock you.”

The lawyer broke down the new claimants as 62% African American, from more than 25 states. He also said that 25 of the accusers were minors at the time of the incidents occurring as early as 1991, with one as young as nine at the time.

Separately, the New York Post reported Tuesday that a sexually explicit video of Combs and another A-list celebrity was allegedly being “shopped around”.

Combs is being detained at the Metropolitan detention center in Brooklyn and was denied bail after prosecutors in New York charged him with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs pleaded not guilty.

Marc Agnifilo, Combs’s lawyer, offered an intriguing reason why government investigators allegedly found 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant in Combs’s homes, which were raided in March, allegedly used during “freak-off” orgies.

“He has a big house, he buys in bulk,” Agnifilo said. “I think they have Costcos in every place where he has a home.”

Agnifilo also offered an explanation for Combs’s parties that the government calls “elaborate sex performances” and involved “force, threats of force and coercion, to cause victims to engage in extended sex acts with male commercial sex workers”.

“They called them ‘freak-offs’. But, you know, back when I was a kid in the late 70s, they were called threesomes,” he told TMZ.

Combs has denied all claims against him, calling them “sickening allegations” from people looking for “a quick payday”. The criminal allegations against the star appear based on allegations made by plaintiffs in pre-existing civil claims, including by Comb’s ex-girlfriend, Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura, who last year filed a civil suit alleging assault and sex trafficking.

That set off a cascade of similar claims against Combs, recently from Dawn Richard, a former member of the girl group Danity Kane, who alleged that Combs groped, assaulted, imprisoned and threatened her life.

In a statement following Buzbee’s public statement Tuesday, Combs’s attorney Erica Wolff said her client could not address “every meritless allegation in what has become a reckless media circus”.

Wolff added that her client “emphatically and categorically denies as false and defamatory any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors” and “looks forward to proving his innocence and vindicating himself in court if and when claims are filed and served”.

Every day, Raquel Atlahua begins her work as a roofer bracing for the blistering sun.

On the roof, there is no escape from the direct light and heat, and the temperatures in Florida quickly climb as the day progresses. The high humidity and lack of shade make it feel even hotter, and even more difficult to cool down.

She and her co-workers get going at 7am, sometimes earlier. They hope the early start means they can get as much work done before temperatures peak in the afternoon – before constant physical exertion, heat and humidity make them feel drained. They battle the climate while rushing to finish a job where the pay is based on the work they complete, rather than by an hourly or daily rate.

“Sometimes we see that the thermometer is 95 degrees, but really when you’re up roofing, it feels like 120 degrees, so there’s a big difference from what people see to what we’re feeling up there,” Atlahua said.

Employers often don’t provide workers water even though they are supposed to, so she and her co-workers make sure they have plenty. She adds lemon, sugar and salt to her water to keep up her electrolytes, as she is constantly sweating. She has learned to avoid drinks like soda to keep up her hydration and eats as healthy as she can; she often sees co-workers struggle with the fatigue of being exposed to intense heat. Fatigue, dizziness, headaches and soreness are constant issues.

Atlahua has worked outdoors for 20 years in central Florida. She began as a roofer in 2004, then became a farm worker in 2009 when the economic recession slowed down roofing work, before returning to roofing in 2015.

Atlahua said she has noticed a significant increase in the intensity and number of hot days she experiences since she began two decades ago.

“One of the things I remember in 2004 when I started was that intense heat days would start around May. Now those heatwaves are felt as early as January,” said Atlahua.

Atlahua’s experiences, about the weather in Florida getting hotter, are backed by data and climate science research. A 2024 study conducted by Payless Power utilizing data from the World Weather Online API found Florida is now the hottest state in the US, with an average temperature of 74.1F (23.4C) over the past 15 years. Unusually hot conditions in Florida have been made five times more likely due to the climate crisis.

Globally, 2024 is on track to become the hottest year on record, which is currently held by 2023.

There are an estimated 2 million outdoor workers in Florida. But despite warming trends, workers here and throughout the US currently have no heat protections on the job. Earlier this year, Republicans in Florida passed a law banning cities and counties from enacting heat protections for workers, amid industry pressure. The Biden administration has proposed a federal rule to provide heat protections for workers, but it could be several more years until it is approved and enacted.

Atlahua explained employers provide no heat protections or resources to her and her co-workers who are directly exposed to the sun on the roofs of houses and buildings. Instead, she and her co-workers are left to try to take care and support themselves.

“They don’t give anything to the workers,” Atlahua noted in reference to whether employers provide any water, training or support for workers around the heat.

As roofers, she and her co-workers aren’t provided any shade, either. If they have to use the bathroom, they are forced to drive to the nearest gas station to use one there and rely on the air conditioning in the gas station and their vehicles to cool down on breaks.

Atlahua argued that she would like to see improvements in education for workers on how to protect themselves from the heat, and for more patience and support from employers, who often won’t allow workers to work too early or too late in the day when the temperatures and sun exposure aren’t as hot.

She also noted due to the nature of the work, with contractors often utilizing subcontractors who have their own employees, that the lack of education and protections around heat get dismissed and the onus is put on workers to try to protect themselves the best they can.

Though employers are supposed to provide clean, drinkable water for free to workers under Osha’s general duty clause, employers will come up with excuses against doing so. “It’s because of the laws in Florida and the message Florida sends to employers. Employers also give the excuse that they are liable if they give us water and we get sick,” she added.

She also has a message for the owners whose homes and buildings she’s repairing: “Owners should think more about the workers and let us sit down and rest when needed. I often see co-workers suffering muscle issues, constantly drinking water, and how much it affects them and how hard it is for them to work in the heat.”

A 43ft (13 meters) effigy of an entirely nude Donald Trump on the interstate from Las Vegas to Reno, Nevada, has been dismissed as “deplorable” and “pornographic” by Republicans in the state.

In a statement, the Nevada Republican party said it “strongly condemns” the effigy of the former president, which hangs from a crane, weighs 6,000lbs, is made from foam and rebar, is titled Crooked and Obscene and is expected to be brought to other cities as part of a nationwide tour.

“While families drive through Las Vegas, they are forced to view this offensive marionette, designed intentionally for shock value rather than meaningful dialogue,” said the party’s statement, invoking the name of a city that was essentially founded to capitalize on gambling and sex.

The artists behind the graphic effigy – who want to remain anonymous – told the Wrap that Trump’s nudity was “intentional, serving as a bold statement on transparency, vulnerability and the public personas of political figures”.

Political battles over statuary run hot and have become a feature of the Trump era after he won the presidency in 2016.

For instance, hundreds of statues paying tribute to the white supremacist Confederacy that lost the US civil war have come down in southern states where the Confederacy was based after a spate of police killings victimizing Black Americans.

The Trump effigy and the offense Republicans took over it drew attention days after he boasted at a political rally in Wisconsin of his “beautiful body”. It was taken down Monday with plans to move it to other swing states in November’s presidential election, during which Trump is seeking a return to the White House as the Republican nominee.

The sculpture in Las Vegas came eight years after artist Joshua “Ginger” Monroe created statues of Trump that he told a Cleveland news outlet took four to five months of strenuous labor to create. He described it as a “hate-filled labor to create this monstrosity”.

Monroe told Cleveland Magazine the following year: “The reason we show Trump’s veins [is] to show a visible representation of his thin skin.”

At the same time, a 16ft effigy of Trump’s rival in November’s presidential race, Kamala Harris, has been put up at the United States Funhouse in West Hartford, Connecticut. The display is from Matt Warshauer, a professor and political historian at Central Connecticut State University – and it likens Harris to the Statue of Liberty.

Warshauer says he sees Harris – whose statue is flanked by Halloween skeletons and ghouls – not as “a fundamental threat to the system”.

“I see her as a stable force,” he said.

A statement on the statue suggests it could be the last of Warshauer’s annual political displaying. It declares the piece as “the final year of Political Halloween”.

An 81-year-old Montana man was sentenced on Monday to six months in federal prison for illegally using tissue and testicles from large sheep hunted in central Asia and the US to create hybrid sheep for captive trophy hunting in Texas and Minnesota.

The US district court judge Brian Morris said he struggled to come up with a sentence for Arthur “Jack” Schubarth of Vaughn, Montana. He said he weighed Schubarth’s age and lack of a criminal record with a sentence that would deter anyone else from trying to “change the genetic makeup of the creatures” on the Earth.

Morris also fined Schubarth $20,000 and ordered him to make a $4,000 payment to the US Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Schubarth will be allowed to self-report to a federal bureau of prisons medical facility.

“I will have to work the rest of my life to repair everything I’ve done,” Schubarth told the judge just before sentencing.

Schubarth’s attorney, Jason Holden, said cloning the giant Marco Polo sheep hunted in Kyrgyzstan in 2013 has ruined his client’s “life, reputation and family”.

“I think this has broken him,” Holden said.

Holden, in seeking a probationary sentence, argued that Schubarth was a hard-working man who has always cared for animals and did something that no one else could have done in cloning the giant sheep, which he named Montana Mountain King – or MMK.

The animal has been confiscated by US Fish and Wildlife Services and is being held in an accredited facility until it can be transferred to a zoo, said Richard Bare, a special agent with the wildlife service.

Sarah Brown, an attorney with the US Department of Justice, had asked that Schubarth be sentenced to prison, saying his illegal breeding operation was widespread, involved other states and endangered the health of other wildlife. The crime involved forethought, was complex and involved many illegal acts, she said.

Schubarth owns Sun River Enterprises LLC, a 215-acre (87-hectare) alternative livestock ranch, which buys, sells and breeds “alternative livestock” such as mountain sheep, mountain goats and ungulates, primarily for private hunting preserves, where people shoot captive trophy game animals for a fee, prosecutors said. He had been in the game farm business since 1987, Schubarth said.

Schubarth pleaded guilty in March to charges that he and five other people conspired to use tissue from a Marco Polo sheep illegally brought into the US to clone that animal and then use the clone and its descendants to create a larger, hybrid species of sheep that would be more valuable for captive hunting operations.

Marco Polo sheep are the largest in the world, can weigh 300lb (136kg) and have curled horns up to 5ft (1.5 meters) long, court records said.

Stretchy dairy cheese could now be made without any cows, after the development of yeast strains that produce the crucial milk proteins.

The key to the development, by Israeli company DairyX, is producing casein proteins that are able to self-assemble into the tiny balls that give regular cheese and yoghurt their stretchiness and creaminess. Existing plant-based cheeses often fail to deliver the textures that dairy lovers prize, and the company believes it is the first to report this breakthrough.

Cattle have a major impact on the climate and natural world, owing to the methane gas they burp and the pollution and destruction of nature associated with the global industry. The development of lower-impact alternatives to regular dairy and meat has accelerated in recent years, with the production of plant-based foods and meat grown in vessels.

DairyX’s approach is a third route – precision fermentation. It is now scaling up its operation and aims to seek the regulatory approval needed for consumers to buy the product in 2027. If successful, the caseins could be used by cheese and yoghurt companies as a drop-in replacement for dairy milk, without changes to equipment or ingredients.

Other companies developing fermented caseins include New Culture in the US, which is focusing on mozzarella, and Australia’s Eden Brew, targeting cow-free milk, as well as All G Foods, Fooditive and Standing Ovation.

“People have been trying to take the cow out of making dairy since the late 1970s,” said Dr Arik Ryvkin, DairyX founder and chief executive. Early efforts used plant protein but about a decade ago biotechnology developments opened a new path, pioneered by the company Perfect Day, he said. “We now bring the last step in that line of evolution … helping dairy companies make the exact products consumers desire while helping cows live happier lives.”

Ryvkin previously followed a vegan diet for 10 years, but became frustrated at being unable to include good cheese in what he ate: “So I slipped, and then decided to solve the problem for everyone.”

Many existing plant-based dairy products use additives, such as stabilisers, emulsifiers and thickeners, but still do not fully replicate the stretchiness and creaminess of regular dairy products. DairyX used engineered yeast strains to produce casein that is genetically identical to dairy proteins. But for these proteins to self-assemble into the tiny balls – called micelles – they also had to perfect the addition of other attached molecules which determine the properties of the protein.

Dr Stella Child, at the Good Food Institute Europe, which supports alternative protein development, said: “Producing caseins that can self-assemble into micelles – while not the only method of developing these ‘building blocks of dairy’ – could help to bring affordable and attractive products to the market sooner by reducing production costs and eliminating the need for additives.”

The scientists tested and refined their research by coagulating the proteins in the same way as when making cheese. They have yet to taste the product, as this requires regulatory approval. Galit Kuznets, at DairyX, said. “Our casein also eliminates the need for hormones and antibiotics [used in cows] on dairy farms.”

The company is using evolutionary techniques to select for the yeast strains that produce the largest amount of proteins, aiming to make the product the same price as dairy casein. Price parity and taste are the key to future success, said Ryvkin.

Preliminary analysis indicates that climate-heating greenhouse gases from the production of DairyX’s fermented casein are 90% lower than for regular dairy if the leftover yeast mass is reused, potentially as food ingredients, or 50% lower if not. All precision fermentation products require far less land and water than their animal counterparts.

Other approaches to cow-free dairy proteins are being taken by companies such as Israel’s NewMoo, which is growing casein proteins in plant seeds, and New Zealand’s Daisy Lab, which is making “all yeast, no beast” whey powder.

At least two Las Vegas radio stations have removed Green Day from their playlists after frontman Billie Joe Armstrong called the city “the worst shithole in America”.

Speaking on stage on 20 September during a performance at San Francisco’s Oracle Park, Armstrong complained about the decision of John Fisher, the current owner of the Oakland Athletics baseball team, to move it to Las Vegas.

“We don’t take no shit from people like John fucking Fisher who sold out the Oakland A’s to Las fucking Vegas,” Armstrong, an Oakland native, reportedly said. “I hate Las Vegas. It’s the worst shithole in America.”

The decision to more the Oakland A’s from California to Nevada has been controversial among the team’s fans, with some heard chanting “fuck John Fisher” at the team’s final game in Oakland last week, where they have played for nearly 60 years. The A’s will play in Sacramento for the next three years before moving to a stadium on the Las Vegas Strip – that has yet to be built – in 2028.

After Armstrong’s comments, Las Vegas rock station KOMP 92.3 announced they were pulling all Green Day music. “KOMP 92.3 has pulled any and all Green Day from our playlist,” they wrote on Instagram. “It’s not us, Billie … it’s you. #vegas4ever.”

Alternative rock station X 107.5 shared a statement announcing their own ban on their website, with the decision also announced on air. “Well, Sin City heard [Armstrong] loud and clear – and X107.5 is not having it,” they wrote. “In response to Armstrong’s inflammatory comments, the station is banning all Green Day music, effective immediately … we’re breaking up with Green Day completely. Bye Bye, Billie!”

But also in the days after Armstrong’s comments, Fisher released a letter apologising to Oakland A’s fans, saying the team had tried to find a new home in the Bay Area but “we came up short”.

“I know there is great disappointment, even bitterness,” he wrote. “Though I wish I could speak to each one of you individually, I can tell you this from the heart: we tried. Staying in Oakland was our goal, it was our mission, and we failed to achieve it. And for that I am genuinely sorry.”

Armstrong and Green Day have not yet commented on the reaction, but the frontman subsequently shared a picture of himself aged six in an Oakland A’s hat on social media, describing the team’s move as “devastating”.

Seventy per cent of soft plastic collected in supermarket recycling schemes and tracked after collection ended up being burned, an investigation by campaigners has found.

By placing trackers inside packages of soft plastic that were collected by Sainsbury’s and Tesco in July 2023 and February 2024, campaigners found that most of them ended up being incinerated rather than recycled.

Everyday Plastic, which carried out the investigation alongside the Environmental Investigation Agency, tracked parcels of soft plastic that the supermarkets collected from customers with the promise they would be recycled. Of 40 packages of plastic, the trackers reached end destinations in 17 cases. Of these, 12 packages were used as fuel pellets or burned for energy, the investigation found.

When Sainsbury’s launched its in-store soft plastic collection in 2021, it said: “The innovative recycling system allows customers to recycle polypropylene film found in several household products.”

Tesco said its customers would be able to bring back any soft plastic packaging for recycling. Soft plastic is hard to recycle and very few facilities in the UK have the ability to process it.

Alison Colclough, of Everyday Plastic, said: “Our trackers reveal the hard truth about soft plastic recycling schemes at supermarkets – soft plastic packaging is not going to get recycled.

“The majority of the bundles of soft plastic we tracked ended up being burned for energy recovery – a solution that is being deployed more and more in order to deal with the unmanageable amount of plastic waste.

“The takeback schemes are being presented as a solution, which is diverting attention from the main issue that can’t be overlooked: far too much unnecessary plastic packaging is being produced.”

Katie-Scarlett Wetherall, of the environmental NGO Client Earth, said the investigation into what was really happening to soft plastic collected by supermarkets revealed a huge gap between what consumers were being told and the reality. She said soft packaging recycling claims made on packages were misleading.

Next month countries will attempt to hammer out a global plastics waste treaty after a pushback from developed countries over the proposed remit. In the last talks on the UN plastics treaty there were accusations that developed nations had bowed to the fossil fuel and plastics lobby over whether cuts in plastic production should be a key part of the treaty.

The UK sends most of its plastic waste abroad, exporting nearly 600,000 tonnes of plastic waste for recycling in 2023, a 10% increase on the previous year. In August 2023 alone, nearly 53,000 tonnes of plastic waste was exported.

Turkey was the largest destination for UK plastic waste exports in 2023, taking more than 140,000 metric tons. The Netherlands received the second most, at 116,500 metric tons.

Plastic waste exports are counted in UK government recycling data.

Sainsbury’s said: “We’re always seeking ways to positively manage the end of life of our packaging. Our return to store recycling scheme provides the opportunity to recycle more soft plastic until kerbside collection becomes available in 2026-27.

“We collect a small volume of flexible plastic overall in store. The majority is in good condition and so is recycled. However, when materials are soiled or damaged then they may need to be converted for energy, which is managed by our supplier.”

A Tesco spokesperson said: “We have a clear plan to remove packaging wherever possible and reducing, reusing and recycling it where we can’t. Given the challenges of collecting soft plastics at kerbside, we have soft plastics collection points in our stores for customers.

“Where it is not possible to recycle the collected plastic, we put it to alternative uses to avoid these materials going to landfill, for example using it for energy recovery.”

Clinging to almost vertical cliffs on the Costa Brava in north-east Spain, the resort of l’Estartit has a dramatic location but the real drama is unfolding under the waves, where an innovative approach to ancient techniques is helping to revive declining populations of prized cuttlefish

Cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) are a valuable catch for Spanish fishers and a popular dish, either on their own or as a key ingredient in seafood paella. However, their numbers have declined on the Catalan coast through a combination of pollution and unregulated recreational fishing.

In 2017, a fortuitous meeting between a local fisherman, Isaac Moya, and a marine biologist, Boris Weitzmann, led to the creation of the Sepia Project, which has the twin objective of reviving stocks and keeping artisanal fishers in business.

The project fixes tree branches to the shallow sea bed just beyond the Estartit harbour wall, as cuttlefish need somewhere solid to lay their eggs.

“Fishers have been putting branches on the sea bed to attract cuttlefish for thousands of years,” says Weitzmann. “In Morocco they use palms; in Galicia, pines. Using this traditional method we attached different species of tree branches to ropes. It’s a case of looking to the past in order to move forward.”

However, not content with waiting for the molluscs to lay their eggs, the project uses the underwater branches as incubators for eggs that attach to fishing nets.

Moya set out to persuade others in his fishing comunity to save the eggs in buckets of water rather than throw them into the sea where they perish. The buckets are then left on the quayside and the eggs are distributed among the branches that serve as a nursery.

Although he is well known locally, Moya does not come from a fishing family and at first had a hard time persuading others not to throw the eggs away.

“Their attitude was a bit ‘what do you know?’,” he says, but fortunately several young locals were open to new ideas. In the first two years of the project they collected 1.5m eggs.

“It’s important that Isaac doesn’t come from a family of fishers,” Weitzmann says. “In the history of humanity, innovation doesn’t come from within, it comes from outside. What we have done here is combine tradition and innovation to achieve a transformation.”

The project is not just about conservation. It also aims to keep artisanal fishers in business by helping them to sell their catch at a fair price. “It’s a perfect example of the circular economy,” he says.

They have chosen cuttlefish partly because they have a short life cycle. They lay their eggs in spring and after six to eight weeks the project takes the young to grow in the open sea. They reach maturity within a year, giving the fishers a good catch after the lean winter months.

“Cuttlefish often die after they’ve laid their eggs,” Weitzmann says. “They have inbuilt planned obsolescence.” In effect, catching a mature cuttlefish once it has laid its eggs has little impact on the population.

The project looked for support from bodies such as the nearby Montgrí national park but also from local businesses, ranging from car mechanics to a three-star Michelin restaurant, El Celler de Can Roca.

“We wanted everyone to have a stake in it,” Weitzmann says. “We could have got more money from the European Union but what happens is you get the money to run a project for two years then they file it away in a drawer and that’s that.

“We’re producing more cuttlefish but that’s not really the point,” he says. “We want to change the mentality of both fishers and consumers.

“Consumers need to be educated about what they’re buying and where their money is going. Most people don’t ask or care.

“As a fisherman, if I need €500 [£415]a month to cover my expenses and I’m paid €5 for a fish that’s worth €10, I have to catch twice as many fish,” says Moya. “The consumer is the primary cause of overfishing.”

It is illegal in Spain for fishers to sell directly to the public. They have to go through the local association and then the wholesalers.

“The system is based on a reverse auction, which pushes down prices and we artisanal fishers can’t compete with industrial boats,” says Moya. “They arrive with 500kg of cuttlefish and the price is set; we arrive with 10kg and no one is interested.”

To combat this, a handful of fishers from l’Estartit and nearby l’Escala have set up Empesca’t, an organisation that aims to sell directly to local people and businesses, although Moya says neither the fisheries sector nor the regional government has encouraged them.

Despite many setbacks, Covid among them, both Moya and Weitzmann remain optimistic.

“It’s like fruit, you have to wait but eventually it ripens and falls,” Weitzmann says. “And besides, everyone knows that if we carry on the way we are, there’s no future.”