Spain’s ecology ministry and wildlife police are investigating whether a “mega party” and concert involving dozens of boats held this month in one of Europe’s largest and most endangered saltwater lagoons broke environmental laws.
Photos emerged of as many as 100 boats moored off the Isla del Ciervo in the Mar Menor, in the south-eastern region of Murcia.
The Mar Menor, a protected area separated from the Mediterranean by a 13-mile (22km) sandbar, has been polluted by poor sewage systems, fertilisers and discharge from mining activities. Six years ago its waters turned green when algal blooms killed off 85% of the vegetation on its seabed.
The ecology ministry said it would be looking into the party, held on the weekend of 20 and 21 August. It said: “Penalties could be imposed if it is determined that there were breaches of the law, such as those governing the environmental protection of a protected area, maritime safety and recreational activities – if the event took place without the necessary permissions and controls.”
It said the regional government of Murcia was responsible for protecting the Mar Menor and its flora and fauna, and a party on such a large scale should have been run past the relevant coastal and maritime authorities. “The regional government’s lack of initial control of the leisure activities that take place in the Mar Menor contributes to the excesses that are altering the delicate balance of this protected space,” it said.
The ministry also said public prosecutors had asked the wildlife division of the Guardia Civil to open an investigation into the matter.
The Murcia branch of the environmental group Ecologists in Action said it had lodged complaints against the regional government and Flippa Boat, the tour company that it claimed had organised “the massive meeting of boats and night-time concert”. The group said the area where the party was held was a potential site for the reintroduction of the endangered Spanish toothcarp.
Flippa Boat said it had had nothing to do with the organisation of the concert and had only taken people out to watch it. “We take people out there on a daily basis at that time – the difference this time was that we went to see a concert,” the company told the Guardian. It said it did not know how many people attended the event, nor whether the necessary permissions had been obtained.
Murcia’s government described the ecology ministry’s statement as “ridiculous” and said its “baseless allegations” were an attempt to hold a regional administration responsible for a drinking party.
“Both the maritime authorities and the Guardia Civil have spent the whole week acknowledging that security control is a matter for the Spanish government,” said a source at the regional environment ministry. “As a matter of fact, security was stepped up last weekend, even if that seems late given the previous weekend’s crowds.”
Last week Murcia’s environment minister, Antonio Luengo, said he saw no reason why such gatherings should not go ahead as long as people behaved responsibly. “I’m not against any kind of fun gathering of boats because it seems to me to be totally reasonable and right, whether it’s in the Mar Menor or anywhere else,” he said.
Spain’s ecology ministry is implementing a €484m (£416m) plan to restore the Mar Menor over the next few years through initiatives that include creating a greenbelt, rewilding the watercourses and managing flood risks.
Efforts are also in progress to safeguard the lagoon by having it recognised as a legal “person” that can be protected and preserved by the government and residents. A law to afford it the special protection was approved by congress in July and will now be put before the senate for ratification.
