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Last Friday, a large crane operating at Cala Corb, in the port of Maó, was dumping stones and soil into the central part of the cove. This is a new environmental aggression, adding to the previous controversies surrounding these works.

Local residents of Es Castell who were walking in the area could not believe what they were seeing. A truck was making trips with materials from Fontanilles Street and depositing them on the recently created quay at Cala Corb. There, a long-arm crane would pick them up and dump them outside a silt curtain, about 10 metres from the quay (see attached video).

This curtain was therefore used to prevent sediment from reaching the quay, but it did not stop all the suspended material from moving toward the central part of the cove and the rest of the port. Thus, the impact of silt covering seagrass beds, rocky seabeds, and benthic habitats has likely been very high. The law considers the dumping of materials that cause environmental alteration to be a very serious offence.

It is worth recalling that the quay works were halted for five years because the initial dumping of rocks was done in an uncontrolled manner, with on-the-fly changes to the terms of the construction contract (the tendered project was for building a wooden cantilevered walkway). Those truckloads of rocks destroyed a colony of protected coral.

The Port Authority, the body that manages the port of Maó, continues to ignore the fact that Maó is a natural harbour, home to protected habitats and species. It is also the largest sheltered area in Menorca and plays a key role in the island’s fish nursery and reproduction cycles.

The GOB has requested access to the details of the current construction project.