68 cases: Mallorca targets illegal boat rentals
Mallorca is at the centre of a Balearic crackdown on illegal boat rentals, with 68 sanction cases opened after 1,350 inspections so far in 2026. The regional government says the checks target unregistered hire boats, missing paperwork and safety failures. On Mallorca alone, the new coastal control service carried out more than 1,231 checks between 4 June and 14 September.
The service uses 22 operational boats spread across the islands and coordinated from a control centre. By mid-September it had logged 147 working days and more than 1,358 activity checks across the Balearics, resulting in 128 formal reports and 39 denunciation notices.
Inspectors are looking closely at hire-boat activity, documents, vessel safety, anchoring, seagrass protection, passenger transport and buoy fields. They found boats operating without registration or the required declaration, missing identification marks, absent or inconsistent contracts, incomplete commercial documents and skippers without the required qualifications. Drones are also being used to monitor difficult-to-reach stretches of coast, boats and anchorages, recording images and coordinates for administrative cases.
Mallorca accounts for most checks
Mallorca recorded 72 service days during the period, producing 74 formal reports and 16 denunciation notices.
Menorca logged 48 days between 27 May and 13 September, with 61 actions, 35 reports and nine notices. Eivissa and Formentera recorded 27 days from 22 June to 14 September, with 66 actions, 19 reports and 14 notices.
Boats removed from charter register
The Balearic Government has also removed 36 boats from the charter register in 2026 because they did not meet the conditions for the work. It sent Airbnb two requests to take down listings for accommodation on boats, while another website was asked to remove adverts for boats registered for hire in the Balearics.
In 2025, authorities opened 162 sanction cases over breaches involving sea transport and boat rentals, with proposed fines totalling 471,000 euros. That was 853% higher than in 2019, when 17 cases were opened.
Eight new passenger-transport inspection posts are due to start in 2027, increasing the current workforce in that area by 40%.
Topics: Housing · Sea & coast · Tourism · Politics
Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com
Hiring a boat: steer it yourself or go with a skipper?
Anyone wishing to steer a hired boat themselves must hold the required qualification from 1 October 2026. Without their own certificate of competence, they can still go with a suitably qualified skipper. The new rule does not ban the hire of small boats; it ends the previous exemption that allowed them to be steered without a licence when hired.
The exemption remains in place for certain small boats used privately or for sport, subject to the statutory conditions. Whether a boat is used privately or hired therefore matters. This is not legal or tax advice.