Ecologists say tread softly when regenerating beaches

Local ecologists called for “calm” before rushing in to restore the beaches damaged by storms earlier this month. Speaking in Can Picafort, one of the worst hit areas in the north of the island, Toni Muñoz of the environmental group GOB, Sofia Alomar of Greenpeace and Jaume Servera, a Balearic University professor and an expert in dune systems, said that artificial regeneral was “transitory, expensive and had a huge impact on the environment.” According to Servera it was a system devised for Atlantic shores, where the sand has a much higher mineral component. All three said that it was better to wait for the beaches' own structure to restore itself and to follow progress over the next few weeks and months. The three experts pointed out that in some parts of the bay of Alcudia, the beaches are already recovering in a natural manner. This will continue to happen “if conditions are minimally favourable and man does not take a hand,” they said. Most of the sand carried away by the winds was in the water, a few metres away, and will be returned to the beach when the waves are favourable, they claimed. But hoteliers are calling for immediate action so that the beaches are fully restored by the summer. The central minister of the environment, Jaume Matas, is planning to make funding available immediately.