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On August 16, near the beach of Binibèquer, an adult sea turtle appeared dead with a large cut on its shell. Some people towed the body to shore.
The protocol was activated by calling 112 and the animal was collected for an autopsy. The turtle’s body clearly showed a prominent fracture in the posterior part of the shell, an injury very likely caused by a collision with a boat propeller. At sea, there are few things that can cause a break of this size in the back of a sea turtle, and due to the large dimension of the break and the clean, linear cut it showed, the staff of the Recovery Center ruled out that it was due to a shark attack.
Unfortunately, collisions of boats with turtles and cetaceans in the Mediterranean are already considered a frequent cause of death. The overcrowding of nautical activity generates insecurity for the protected species that inhabit these habitats.
To give an idea, in 2010 it was counted that between ports and buoy fields in Menorca there was capacity to moor 4,000 boats. Last year, GOB carried out a count of the current nautical offer, requesting data from the different administrations managing the coastline and making visual counts. The figure obtained already rises to 5,453 moorings, without taking into account dry marinas or boats coming from outside the island.
The marine ecosystems that bathe and shape our coasts are an essential part of the island. The landscape of dark, rugged rocks in the north and the long, white sandy beaches in the south constitute this coastline. A coast that is a source of environmental wealth, the conservation of which has been key to becoming the image of Menorca treasured by residents and visitors alike.
The recreational nautical industry is one of the economic sources that generates the most money in a very short time. But it is not an innocuous activity without impact. Unlimited tourist overcrowding causes, on an island where the sea is a natural attraction, an equally uncontrolled increase in boats.
This scenario connects with the lack of regulatory protection and control over what happens. All of this opens up a list of impacts that harm our environment: large boats at high speed; anchoring near unspoiled coves and beaches; illegal anchoring on Posidonia oceanica and other marine seagrasses; run-overs and collisions with other boats; and impacts with cetaceans and sea turtles.
The sea has always been an essential element in the life and culture of Menorcans. It has always been known that one must have respect in case of bad weather. Today, insecurity at sea does not come from the forces of nature, but from the impacts we humans are generating.
Stopping the dynamic of endlessly increasing the number of moorings, better regulating the safety distance from the coast, controlling the speed at which boats move and preventing uncontrolled pollution episodes from bilge water, oils and fuels, are steps that every responsible user must adopt, so that our leisure is not at the expense of the values the island offers us, such as sea turtles.