The Conselleria de Agricultura, Pesca y Medio Natural, through the Dirección General de Medio Natural y Gestión Forestal, has sanctioned two nurseries, one located in Ibiza and the other, in this case the supplier, in Girona, for selling invasive flora. The fine is 3,000 euros for the establishment in Ibiza and 4,000 euros for the one in the Peninsula, as reported Monday by the Conselleria. Specifically, it is the sale of the species ‘Pennisetum villosum‘ (popularly known as cat’s tail), included since 2013 in the Spanish Catalog of invasive alien species. Its possession, transport, traffic and trade are totally prohibited in the Balearic Islands. The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Natural Environment, Joan Simonet, recalled that invasive species pose one of the most serious threats to biodiversity and are the second cause of disappearance of wild species. “In the Balearic Islands, their impacts are even more aggravated because of the insular nature and the fact that native biodiversity is less prepared to face new threats,” he remarked. In this sense, invasive species take advantage of the vulnerability caused by geographical isolation to act as a competitor or predator on native species, many of them protected, threatened or endemic. According to the Govern, the case of the grass‘Pennisetum villosum‘ (and other species of this genus) is especially worrying because of its great capacity for dispersal and adaptation to natural environments, as it is able to tolerate unfavorable situations and modify the ecological conditions of the places it colonizes. It forms dense clumps of long leaves and white inflorescences covered with hairs that can form large uniform extensions and replace their own plant communities.Pennisetum villosum’, native to North Africa and Arabia, was introduced in Spain as an ornamental plant for gardens but, having moved away from these areas, it has naturalized and shows great colonizing potential due to the volatility of its fruits and the robustness of its rhizomes. The problems of invasive species in the Balearic Islands have intensified in recent years due to trade, globalization, tourism and climate change. For all these reasons, Simonet pointed out, it is especially necessary that the competent administrations implement conservation measures for protected and catalogued species, as well as measures for the control and eradication of invasive species. It should be remembered that the Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Natural Environment has created the mobile application Línea Verde Cofib, a citizen tool that allows anyone to report the presence of invasive species to the administration. In this way, it is possible to provide a faster response to the detection alerts that are received.
