Government’s concluding the Reserva Marina dels Freus expansion to protect the marine environment

The Agriculture, Fishing and Environment Council, through the Directorate General of Fishing, will conclude the proposal of the ampliation of the Reserva Marina dels Freus with the field during its process, with the objective of making sure that the initiative counts with the maximum possible consensus. In addition, they remind that recreational fishing can be practiced with normality in the marine reserves, as it has been done in the Freus for 25 years.

Last July 16th, during the reunion of the Tracking Commission of the Reservas Marinas dels Freus of Ibiza and Formentera and the Punta de sa Creu, Formentera’s Fishmongers Confraternity, availed by the Insular Council of Formentera, proposed its ampliation. An initiative of which the Council has already started working on; in fact, this month of August it will be publicly exposed. The general director of Fishing, Antoni M. Grau, has explained that precisely “during this period the Government will listen and recollect contributions to the implied parts in the ampliation and will work conjunctively to achieve that the final report has the most possible number of agreement points”. Something that, he has said, “reaffirms the willingness of the Government to keep up with the measures approved by the professional fishing field”. On the other hand, he has explained that, “in any case, this proposal only affects waters of Formentera and, basically, fishmongers of the island”.

The Council reminds that the ampliation of the Reserva Marina dels Freus aims to protect the marine environment of the archipelago and preserve the marine biodiversity.

The marine reserves are figures of fishing conservation with which the uses and exploitation of marine resources are regulated, with the objective of increasing its natural regeneration and preserving marine ecosystems. One of the main purposes of the reserves is the maintenance of small-scale fishing. In the Balearic Islands, with twelve marine reserves that add an extension of 63.700 hectares, it has been shown that, without these reserves, artisanal fishing has more difficulties to subsist. In these areas where there are more fish, and of a bigger size, there are species that cannot be found much outside of the reserves, and captures are more important in quantity as well as quality.

On the other hand, marine reserves have also consolidated as a highlighted referent for touristic diving, with over 73.000 annual immersions.