Mallorca group calls for slower boats to protect whales

In Palma, Mallorca, Spain, on 12 October, GOB Mallorca and five other environmental groups are calling for boats to slow down where whales and dolphins risk being hit. They have filed objections to proposed changes to Spain’s whale and dolphin protection rules. Their call covers recreational boats as well as passenger and merchant vessels.

Where they want boats to slow down

The groups want speed controls in areas identified as critical for whales and dolphins in Spain’s catalogue of threatened species. They name the Mediterranean whale and dolphin migration corridor, the Strait of Gibraltar, the Alboran Sea and the Canary Islands. They say collisions are particularly likely in these areas.

The groups say growing traffic from merchant, passenger and recreational boats has brought more collisions, underwater noise and changes in the animals’ behaviour. They also warn of the risk of death.

Rules beyond whale-watching trips

Spain’s existing decree creates a moving protection area around whales and dolphins, with five zones and different rules depending on a boat’s distance from the animals. The rules apply to Spanish and foreign boats in waters under Spanish jurisdiction. But the groups say enforcement has focused almost entirely on whale- and dolphin-watching trips, leaving other shipping pressures insufficiently addressed.

They want better rules for watching trips, real-time monitoring, public data and stronger enforcement. They have also warned Spain’s Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge not to shrink the decree’s coverage or weaken its protections. The proposals are part of a review; the groups have not said whether the ministry will adopt them.

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com