This summer, I was swimming peacefully with my son in the sea. He is a little boy and is still taking his first dips. Little by little he dares more and more. He suddenly got scared because he heard a very loud noise. I lifted my head and saw a small boat, far closer to us than it should have been. Anyone who has ever put their head in the water knows what I’m talking about. When a motorboat is nearby, even if it’s hundreds of metres away, it’s possible to hear it. No wonder, because, among other things, sound travels about four times faster in water than in the air. Much has been said about marine noise resulting from human activities, whether professional or leisure. The impacts it has on organisms such as cetaceans are well known.
Lately, the feeling of saturation or overcrowding in the sea is not only worrying people concerned about biodiversity, but also bathers who see how more and more boats generate dangerous situations for them. Some cases end in tragedy, such as the death of a 20-year-old Mallorcan fisherman after being run over by a 20-metre yacht this summer in Mallorca. Now, largely motivated by this event, there seems to be a more intense social debate in the Balearic Islands about what we could also call the ‘gentrification of the sea’.
A complex challenge with no shortcuts
Facing this challenge is complex. It requires not the implementation of a single measure, but many. We need to start by recognising that the number of boats in the water must be reduced. There is no scientific justification for more boats in the Balearic Islands. Therefore, any decision to the contrary, i.e., that there should be more boats in our waters, is based exclusively on political criteria, since there is generally a lack of information. This contrasts sharply with the protection of the marine environment, for which rigorous studies are required to ensure that such protection is always, without exception, based on scientific evidence. The creation of marine protected areas, which also has implications for regulating navigation, is a great tool that is strongly opposed and underutilised. We tend to make the protection of the sea and its life more complex, and yet we pave the way for the debauchery in its waters.
To moderate this debauchery, another measure is to limit the speed of boats. The government intends to limit the speed to 10 knots in the first nautical mile off the coast, as part of the draft of the new Coastal Law. This news, a priori positive in several aspects, falters when reading the fine print. This limitation applies only to boats over 12 metres in length and jet skis. All other boats are free to continue as usual and it is these small boats that star in shameful events in our waters. Returning to the sad case of the death of Guillem this summer: The boat that ran over him also had a small dinghy (less than 12 metres in length). The offender had been it in another area driving at full speed and behaving recklessly. Even if the offender changes boats, the problem remains.
The problem, therefore, is not only the size of the boat (which obviously matters), but also that potentially reckless drivers are allowed to go faster than necessary. Remember, some motorboats can be rented without a licence. One of the messages from the government in announcing this draft law could not be more wrong: ‘Whoever wants to run can do so from a mile out.’ Once again, the debauchery of reckless sailing takes precedence over safety at sea or environmental protection. It seems that some are unaware that much of marine life, such as cetaceans, do not just live in the first nautical mile from the coast. In addition, boats smaller than 12 metres that are not jet skis will be able to continue running the coastline without any additional measures in place. It seems that the important thing is to run and that the engine resonates loudly somewhere, even if it is a little farther away. A negative consequence of continuing to allow this is the damage done to the image of the boating industry itself and boaters who are neither representative nor defenders of these practices. In fact, they’re quite the opposite.
With the end of summer, the activity on our coastline decreases, but the problem does not disappear. On the contrary, the time between seasons is precisely when we must reflect and act. We cannot allow next summer to surprise us with the same conflicts, the same saturation, and the same lack of long-term vision.