Seagrass protection on the way
The legislation will restrict collection of seagrass from all beaches in the region
A MARINE vigilance service to protect posidonia oceanica seagrass will start operating in the Valencia region from June 1.
Established to guard the sea bed and protect the seagrass meadows, it will have eight teams – two stationed permanently in Denia and Valencia and the other six seasonal.
“It will correct moorings, issue warnings, and provide environmental education to anyone interfering with the seagrass meadows,” explained regional councillor for the ecological transition, Mireia Mollà.
Her department has invested half a million euros in the service, which will cover the whole coast during the summer from June 1 to August 31, while the fixed teams will continue until November 30.
She made the announcement at the presentation of the Oceanographic foundation’s ‘posidonia’ project to map 7,000 hectares of marine space in the Marina Alta and explain its value to schoolchildren and residents in the area.
The new regional law to protect this seagrass details ‘what we have to do to not harm the posidonia, but also what we must do when it comes to our beaches: incorporate it and make use of it to prevent the erosion we are experiencing’, said Sra Mollà.
The legislation will restrict collection of seagrass from all beaches in the region between October 15 and March 15.
It will also involve updating the map of the region’s ‘submerged forest’ – the second largest in the country – to improve knowledge and conservation of these plants.
The law will be discussed with town halls, organisations, nautical clubs and boat rental companies so they can coexist with the prohibition of damaging sea prairies and use it as a barrier against coastal regression.
Santa Pola seeks exemption
Santa Pola town hall has asked the regional government to treat Santa Pola differently and allow the mounds of algae to be removed all year round.
The presentation of the law in Valencia was attended by mayoress Loreto Serrano, environment councillor Ángel Piedecausa and two municipal technicians.
Santa Pola town hall commissioned a report from the coastal ecology institute, which highlighted that the municipality
receives more ‘posidonia’ on its beaches than anywhere else in the region, especially those east of the town centre, including Santiago Bernabéu and Varadero.
The exceptional amounts are a result of being opposite the Tabarca island marine reserve, and the semi-enclosed beaches prevent waves from carrying remains back out to sea.
Sra Serrano noted they already have companies using algae to make fertilisers, natural substrate and uses for animals, and their beaches are not endangered by erosion.
Santa Pola also has a seagrass mound removal system that recovers ‘the immense majority’ of the sand from the beach and puts it back again.
The municipality has 13 beaches, seven urban and six natural, from which the seagrass collected amounted to 10,754 cubic metres in 2019, 37,119m3 in 2020 and 13,792m3 in 2021, with the increase in 2020 due to the September 2019 flooding disaster.