The Association Salvem sa Badia has submitted to the Conselleria del Mar y del Ciclo del Agua several contributions for the announced modification of Decree 21/2017 that regulates the rental of boats in the Balearic archipelago. They especially point out that it does not refer in any section to the protection of the environment. Among the contributions presented are included specific proposals for monitoring anchorages in the bay of Portmany and mandatory environmental training for nautical charter skippers. One of the objectives emphasized by Salvem sa Badia is the need to carry out a more effective control of infractions. In this sense, it joins the requests made by other entities and claims, for the particular case of the bay of Portmany, the presence of two permanent inspectors who are responsible for monitoring the validity of permits, authorizations for anchoring, embarkation and disembarkation of people, waste management and gray water, and other requirements detailed in the decree. It also calls for the implementation of a WhatsApp number through which citizens can report violations at any time. “In relation to the procedure, and given the numerous infractions that occur daily at sea, other information and prevention measures are necessary. Among them, the obligatory nature that the skippers of the rental companies undergo a course of good environmental and navigation practices, to be repeated at each renewal of the activity permit,” the association has pointed out in a statement. “Likewise, during the processing of the permits, the authority must inform the companies in detail about the activity restrictions in the protected maritime areas and the Natura 2000 Network, as well as about the applicable sanctions in case of transgressions”, it added.
Requirements
On issues related to the qualification and requirements for the exercise of the activity, Salvem sa Badia considers that, in case of granting a limited number of activity permits, should be integrated a priority clause that favors companies with boats that do not emit CO2. In addition, according to the association, each boat should have a mooring in a Balearic port for the period of activity requested, where the embarkation and disembarkation of passengers, emptying of gray water, waste management, provisioning, cleaning, and so on. Otherwise, it would have to have authorization to access the sea by an authorized ramp and accreditation of legal mooring, to avoid excessive traffic on the jetties of the swallows engaged in regular passenger traffic. Finally, in relation to the digitization and streamlining of procedures, Salvem sa Badia asks that the file “Responsible declarations”, which is public and accessible from the website of the Autonomous Community of the Balearic Islands, is reorganized by ‘Name of the owner’, in order to facilitate the controls of registered charter boats. As of January 27, 2025, there were 3,439 responsible declarations in 150 pages, in order of renewal date, complicating any query by name.
