New Balearic Islands law effective from today.

I think all now try for the sand.

Challenge is that boats swing and finding a patch of sand that big in many anchorages is a challenge.

Shame they are not concerned that no marina I know of has sewage pump out, or that they choose not to enforce speed rules on jet skis next to boats which can kill people
 
I didn't have an issue at all during my 10 day visit. Admittedly I avoided Vells at the weekend. I "think" more people are trying to anchor in sand (I say think as I am probably just more aware of it) but still a good portion anchor directly over the grass.
 
Just a quick update on the Baldricks posedonia anchoring, translated from local newspaper:

The Government could only fine 42 of the 5,259 illegal moorings detected
The posidonia surveillance ships, not carrying agents of the authority, can not sanction
Miquel Adrover Palma 03.10.2018 | 23:04
The posidonia surveillance boats can only inform, they can not fine an illegal mooring.
The posidonia surveillance boats can only inform, they can not fine an illegal mooring. govern
The Conselleria de Medio Ambiente has detected 5,249 irregular moorings on Posidonia this summer. What happens is that of the boats that have anchored on the protected plant only 42 have been sanctioned. The rest, 5,207, have remained unpunished despite having moored the anchor on a meadow of the emblematic marine plant. It turns out that surveillance boats can not sanction, they only perform information tasks and in case of finding an irregular mooring, the only action they can take is to invite them to change places and moor in an area of ​​sand. The sanctions can only be put by the environmental agents (AMA) or the Civil Guard and they do not go on the boats.
The 42 sanctions imposed are from AMAS, which in some cases carry out inspections with the surveillance vessels. However, of the 50,467 anchored vessels that the surveillance teams have inspected, only 110 had an authority agent with sanctioning capacity on board.

The figures of irregular anchorages in the coast of Mallorca are not at all flattering either. Of a total of 25,086 inspected vessels, 3,536 were found to have dropped the anchor on a posidonia meadow. Only about twenty have received a sanction for their actions, more than 3,500 offenders have gone unpunished in Mallorcan waters, according to the data of the Government made public yesterday.

Vicenç Vidal , Minister of Environment, and Miquel Mir , General Director of Biodiversity, acknowledged the situation, but described as "a very positive balance that more than 50,000 vessels have been inspected and more than 5,000 have been invited to change places to avoid damage the posidonia grasslands, " said the general director Miquel Mir. Vidal reminded that the sanctioning capacity can only be exercised by environmental agents and pointed out that the performances of these have doubled with respect to the previous year. Despite this, they have only undertaken 110 actions with respect to more than 50,000 vessels inspected by the surveillance boats.

If we analyze the figures by months, only in August were inspected more than 20,564 boats, of which 2,334 had an illegally funded. In July, 16,752 inspections were carried out, of which 10% had irregularly anchored. In September, 813 illegal moorings were detected on the Balearic coasts.

Vicenç Vidal wanted to clarify yesterday, during the presentation of the figures, that the goal of the posidonia surveillance operation is not to sanction but to generate awareness about the effects that anchoring on posidonia can have on the environment. In this sense, he considered that the balance is positive because of the large amount of information that has been distributed. He also noted that the increase in personnel has been important during this term.

This summer 15 boats have performed (5 in Mallorca, 5 in Formentera, 3 in Evissa and 2 in Menorca), which means five more boats than last year.
 
If only some of this was based on evidence - it is very instructive moving the boat this year from Croatia where posidonia is dredged and trawled away to keep anchorages turquoise but never succeed because posidonia is so fast growing and recovers so fast, to the Balearics where posidonia is so delicate that dropping a hairpin will cause it to shrivel and call the police.

But anchoring on sand is a lot more secure anyway so happy to go along with it despite the complete lack of evidence whether anchoring denudes it or spreads it.
 
Meanwhile there are no pump out stations and the sea is full of plastic. Jet ski laws go unenforced and people belt through anchorages

Glad limited resources are being out to best use ....

Poseidon is not listed as an endangered species and there is plenty of it about.

The Mallorca equiv of sea horses ...

Forgive my cynicism, but there is so much more they could focus on
 
jrudge said:
Meanwhile there are no pump out stations and the sea is full of plastic. Jet ski laws go unenforced and people belt through anchorages

Glad limited resources are being out to best use ....

Poseidon is not listed as an endangered species and there is plenty of it about.

The Mallorca equiv of sea horses ...

Forgive my cynicism, but there is so much more they could focus on
Click to expand...

We noticed all of that on the short cruise around we had after arriving. I'm not bothered by pump out stations as the open sea is perfectly capable of coping with natural waste but the rest I totally agree with.
 
This “ biodiversity “ word thrown around is the key to understanding why .
Although the weed / grass self regenerates rapidly esp in the winter it’s the other stuff lurking in it that suffered continual anchors dredging every day ,often several times a day as boats come and go .

Eg Grande nacre
Here a pic of several dead shells I picked up in a ripped up Posidonie bed in a popular anchorage in the SoF
I also saw some proper clams , about I pad size clinging on to the bottom between the grass .
They are a endangered species in the Med btw .

https://imgur.com/a/ZwAglGx


But the Fr take a pragmatic view .
Take ski resorts approx 1/3 rd of the Alps is in Fr yet they exploit 4% of the landscape .
Blowing up rock , bulldozing , chopping down trees etc to create the perfect resorts .
Nature in the other 96 % is protected .

So it’s sad these Grande nacre ( mature up to 1.2 M L ) met a premature end due to our hobby ,of course it is but there’s plenty of seabed that boats don,t anchor in mostly due to depth .
 
Portofino said:
This “ biodiversity “ word thrown around is the key to understanding why .
Although the weed / grass self regenerates rapidly esp in the winter it’s the other stuff lurking in it that suffered continual anchors dredging every day ,often several times a day as boats come and go .

Eg Grande nacre
Here a pic of several dead shells I picked up in a ripped up Posidonie bed in a popular anchorage in the SoF
I also saw some proper clams , about I pad size clinging on to the bottom between the grass .
They are a endangered species in the Med btw .

https://imgur.com/a/ZwAglGx


But the Fr take a pragmatic view .
Take ski resorts approx 1/3 rd of the Alps is in Fr yet they exploit 4% of the landscape .
Blowing up rock , bulldozing , chopping down trees etc to create the perfect resorts .
Nature in the other 96 % is protected .

So it’s sad these Grande nacre ( mature up to 1.2 M L ) met a premature end due to our hobby ,of course it is but there’s plenty of seabed that boats don,t anchor in mostly due to depth .
Click to expand...

But would you have found exactly the same number of dead shells if you had carefully looked though undisturbed Posidonia beds. It might be that they just became visible. I have no doubt that posidonia gets ripped and moved by anchors but what is not clear at all is whether that distributes and spreads it or shrinks the coverage. I'd love to see a proper paper with evidence either way but everyone seems to quote two papers - one which shows there is less coverage at the end of the anchoring season than at the beginning (but doesn't show if that's true in places without anchors too, or whether the seagrass increases Spring to Spring), and the second paper shows that a mooring with a chain will scour a neat circle but says absolutely nothing about anchors.
 
RupertW said:
But would you have found exactly the same number of dead shells if you had carefully looked though undisturbed Posidonia beds.
Click to expand...

No.

Since this whole thing kicked off I have been paying particular attention to potentially alledged damage by over anchoring.
Interestingly today we anchored in a previous forbidden area .Forbiddan because it’s in the season a water ski area for the big hotels beach clubs on the Crossette ,Cannes .
Normally you have to be S of a line between the two port stb markers .They move you on if you anchor inside .
Out side it’s hugely popular so takes a beating .
Inside it’s left alone all Sumer anchor wise .But as the season is closing officialdom has disappeared.

The dead shells don,t appear in un anchored areas .
 
jrudge said:
Forgive my cynicism, but there is so much more they could focus on
Click to expand...
+1, and for reasons which have nothing to see with cynicism.

This summer I had the pleasure to meet a marine biologist with a lifelong experience, who also happens to be a keen sailor.
He forgot much more about posidonia than any bureaucrat will ever know.
In a nutshell, he confirmed me that posidonia is indeed critical to the Med ecosystem, and that there are areas where it is surely more endangered than elsewhere.

We didn't discuss the Balearics specifically, but fwiw it seems that it's not endangered at all anywhere around Sardinia and Corsica, and the one and only reason why he also tries to drop the hook above a sandy bottom whenever possible is the same as mine: getting a cleaner anchor after pulling it back onboard!

Otoh, he explained me that there is absolutely zero doubt about the fact that wherever posidonia is suffering, it's always because of chemical reasons.
Mechanical attack of posidonia, which obviously is the only danger connected to anchors and chains, is so irrelevant in the big scheme that it's not even a factor worth mentioning, in any proper scientific studies he read (and/or he contributed to make!) about it.

Bottom line, I'm not saying that the concern about posidonia in the Baldricks is irrelevant, because I know nothing about the specific situation of that area.
But IF posidonia is suffering around there, they'd better look into their own pollution first, before wasting time with anchors.

Then again, blaming boaters is always an attractive proposition for a politician (almost as popular as blaming EU! :rolleyes:), regardless of whether there are good reasons or not...
 
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Interestingly there are other reports in the local papers about 'accidental' raw sewage discharges from onshore facilities around the shores of Mallorca this summer, presumably if these occur then it can only be assumed there are chemical discharges as well, I am not a marine biologist but it seems logical that chemicals will have more effect than anchors or chain.

At present it's very much the 'fashion' in Mallorca political circles to 'top trump' one another in what they term tourist 'massification', the posedonia issue is another populist 'vote winner', generally negatively affects wealthy non local voters and attracts the local eco vote, even if there is little science or objective consideration of all the factors.

However it's very interesting to see that the Minister of Environment has actually come out & said that these 'patrols' are intended to educate rather than punish 'offenders', this is the first time I have seen the policy openly laid out, perhaps the marine industry has finally 'educated' them to the potential effects to their economy & jobs!

Frankly I would always look to anchor in sand anyway, I am not looking to rip up seaweed, but in tight anchorages it's impossible to guarantee the chain would not drag in Posedonia, you would need to ensure there is no seaweed within a 50m radius when anchoring in 10m, in summer you would never find any bay where you can guarantee that.
 
PalmaTarga - thanks for posting. What a joke. You would have thought at the very least they would have buoys to tie up to. Ibiza looks to have the majority of restrictions.
 
What are the actual rules?

Is it no anchoring in those areas at all?

Or

No anchoring in weed in those areas?

Or
No anchoring in weed if you are over a certain length?

Etc etc
 
Article states "The rules affect all vessels, no matter how small the boat.". I would assume the whole area is a no go. Quite a lot of sand in Vells but it is all 'orange'. Looking at the PDF other places of restriction seem very specific so can only assume this is as well.
 
Yep upon reading the article again it does state no anchoring at all regardless of size in those marked zones.

I presume they will be placing buoys in those areas, but that there will be a daily charge to use them.

This will completely knacker the restaurants in portals vells I reckon.
 
I was thinking exactly the same thing about the restaurants. Good point on buoys as it was mentioned before they are supposed to be putting them in vells.
 
Joy. Another own goal like Matriculation tax I suspect.

So does that mean we will be left alone on the rest of the Island. If so this is a good thing .... if ...

No one intentionally seeks to anchor on weed as the holding is not as good, however Mallorca is in season busy and where the weed is is not always obvious unless you are at the right angle and it is sunny. Night time, over cast - you prob see it at all.

Bear in mind I had the weed police at 10pm knock on the boat having looked underwater their their viewing device and a torch. My anchor was on sand but the chain was on the edge of weed. Boats swing. I typically use I guess 30m in an " average" anchorage" so I am now looking for a free patch of sand that is roughly 50m across. and then to anchor in the middle of it - which might not be possible given the swing of other boats ... so this has little to do with a will not to anchor on weed, but the practicality of what they are suggesting in one of the worlds more expensive boating locations.

All round Cala Dor ( popular forum haunt) is not listed on that document, but was heavily enforced las year. There are not that many bays with the required 50m free sand patches which to all practical purposes unless in shallow water in a small boat makes them off limits.

When this all started the Poseidon Bouys were free ... then the charged, then they removed most of them - lets see what happens this year.
 
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It's first time I have seen the actual mapping of the areas, as Jrudge says, they were 'enforcing' last summer, so I am not sure whether the article is correct is saying 'no anchoring' in yellow zones, last summer they were allowing anchoring (& chain) in Portals Vells in sand. The article says it is based on a Decret July 2018, so this was in force after that, the map shows 'red' areas as 'high value' & 'yellow' as 'to restore Posidonia', NOT that anchoring prohibited...

Perhaps other forum member(s) have seen the actual associated decret that details what these zones restrictions are?

Don't think we should all be re-locating (yet) based on a journalist's interpretation, they have been known to 'exagerate'..:rolleyes:
 
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