The boats tear up vital seagrass with their anchors and propellers can destroy meadows of Posidonia, one of the world’s oldest organisms
MADRID – Tourists partying on boats in the Spanish islands of Ibiza and Formentera are facing a crackdown as more police are drafted in to monitor these vessels.
Up to 30 officers will be stationed at a new base in Ibiza and some will carry out sea patrols in the waters off the Balearic Islands, popular sites for marine bars as well as scores of yachts.
The boats tear up vital seagrass with their anchors and propellers can destroy meadows of Posidonia, one of the world’s oldest organisms, which has been around for an estimated 100,000 years.
Just one square metre of this seagrass produces as much oxygen as a hectare of the Amazon rainforest.
At the same time, it takes large amounts of carbon dioxide and converts it into plant matter, thereby playing an important role in fighting climate change.
From the base, police will patrol waters off areas like Porroig in Ibiza and S’Estany des Peix in Formentera.
The Balearic Islands regional government in 2024 introduced a ban on party boats sailing within one nautical mile of designated tourist areas like Magaluf and San Antonio, and they must not pick up passengers in these areas.
Despite the regulations, Diario de Ibiza, a local newspaper, has reported complaints from islanders about the noise pollution caused by the boats.
Tourists also face fines of up to €2,000 (£1,736) if they dump refuse from parties into the sea.
Manu San Felix, a marine biologist who has spent three decades campaigning to save the Posidonia, said more police were needed on the island.
“There are two big problems in Ibiza and Formentera: the arrival of illegal immigrants from Africa and drug smuggling. This absorbs the attention of the police, who cannot deal with other problems like the protection of the Posidonia,” he told The i Paper.
“We need more police and resources.”
The number of migrants arriving on the Balearic Islands by boat, most of them smuggled from Algeria, reached 11,680 between 1 January and 30 September – a rise of 25.9 per cent year-on-year.
The Nature Studies Group, a Spanish ecologist group, produced a 2023 report about the damage caused to seagrass off Ibiza because of tourist boats and other yachts.
“There is an erosive impact on the Posidonia meadows due to the anchoring of passing vessels that anchor in the island’s coves and anchorages,” the report warned.
“The effect is mainly due to the action of their chains during the swinging of the moored vessels. The health of the habitats next to these anchorages is showing signs of degradation.”
Núria Marbà, a researcher at the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies and the University of the Balearic Islands, said the loss of two-thirds of the Posidonia meadows was due to human activities such as construction on the coastline or trawling.
“Anchors are behind the loss. Every time an anchor is dropped in a [Posidonia] meadow, clumps are uprooted,” she added.
