Balearic Islands and Canary Islands Coordinate Strategies to Streamline Coastal Management

The directorates-general are focusing on internal organization and on speeding up procedures related to the public maritime–terrestrial domain.

The Directorate-General for Coasts and Seashore of the Government of the Balearic Islands, headed by its director general, María Joaquina Ferrer, held a working meeting at the headquarters of the Ministry of the Sea and the Water Cycle with the director general for Coasts and Maritime Space Management of the Government of the Canary Islands, Antonio Acosta, and his team. The meeting focused on sharing how both departments are organized and on reviewing in detail the procedures involved in managing the coastal strip.

The Balearic Islands have been exercising coastal management responsibilities since July 2023 and the Canary Islands since January of the same year. Drawing on this experience, the two delegations analyzed the processing of files, from the submission of applications to their resolution, identified the points with the highest workload, and exchanged approaches for simplifying procedures and improving response times for municipalities, businesses, and citizens.

Representing the Balearic Government were officials from the legal and technical departments, along with specialists in authorizations, concessions, wastewater discharge, and enforcement. From the Canary Islands, attendees included officials responsible for planning, inspection, and file processing, as well as technicians with direct experience in managing the public maritime–terrestrial domain. Also present were technicians from the Directorate-General for Natural Environment and Forest Management and from PortsIB, given the close relationship between coastal planning, environmental protection, and port activity.

One specific area addressed was the management of mooring buoy fields. The Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands shared their experiences. They also compared internal processing workflows and coordination mechanisms between technical and legal units in order to provide greater certainty to municipalities and to the economic sectors operating along the coast.

María Joaquina Ferrer highlighted the practical nature of the meeting: "What we have done is to review, step by step, how each file is processed. Comparing procedures with the Canary Islands helps us detect where we can eliminate duplications, clarify requirements, and gain agility without compromising technical rigor."

The director general also emphasized the importance of making this collaboration ongoing: "We face very similar challenges, and the best way to address them is to share what works. If we align our criteria and ways of working, we provide more certainty to municipalities and users, and strengthen coastal management that is better coordinated across administrations."

During the meeting, both parties agreed on the desirability of moving toward a stable space for collaboration among autonomous communities with coastal management powers, enabling them to continue sharing technical experience and jointly put forward proposals to improve the framework for coastal management.