Marine Surveillance increases coastline patrols to protect posidonia seaweed

In order to safeguard posidonia seaweed, the Marine Surveillance Service examines 50,000 hectares of shoreline.

The Marine Surveillance Service of the Valencia region is currently surveying 50,000 hectares of coastline in an effort to preserve the posidonia meadows of the Valencian Community by creating a network to monitor marine species, ecosystems, and protected areas.

With the expansion of the surveillance network in 2024, this service—which is subordinate to the General Directorate of Natural and Animal Environment—has been present at sea for 810 days and has sailed more than 37,000 kilometres of the Valencian coastline, setting new records.

The largest deployment since the program’s inception in 2022, comprising a team of 19 marine professionals and eight vessels managed by the Ministry, is the surveillance device, as pointed out by Luis Gomis, Director General of Natural and Animal Environment.

Therefore, El Perelló, Dénia, Alcossebre, Oropesa del Mar, Xàbia, Calp, El Campello, and Torrevieja are the eight base ports from which the vessels embark for the work.

Two additional vessels will join the existing network of watchdogs in 2024 to do control and surveillance duties off the coasts of L’Albufera and Dénia. “This network for monitoring marine species, habitats and protected areas allows us to collect all the information of interest on nautical activity and to report on the ecological and regulatory importance associated with posidonia oceanica,” Luis Gomis stated.

In its three years of operation, the Marine Surveillance Service has successfully decreased the amount of anchors found in posidonia meadows. Environmental officials have also started boarding the service’s boats in September 2024 to report these breaches.

Five nautical clubs have begun a new initiative this year to disseminate regulations related to seagrass meadows: Club Náutico Oropesa del Mar, Marina El Portet in Dénia, Club Náutico in Moraira and El Campello, and the Real Club Náutico in Torrevieja.

Schedule for tracking

As part of the Posidonia monitoring plan’s presentation day in Alicante, the Spanish Department of Environment, Infrastructure, and Territory convened a group of specialists from throughout the country to assess the species’ situation in the Valencian Community.

The decline of our beaches, loss of biodiversity, and worsening water quality are all things that posidonia works to combat, as the head of the natural and animal environment directed attention to. “This species acts as a barrier against erosion, provides oxygen, and provides shelter for species of interest,” he continued.

Contamination by wastewater, hydrocarbons, and coastal building is a major threat to posidonia. Also, because people tend to anchor without thinking, water activities might lead to more direct attacks.

Preserving areas

Seagrass meadows, including Cymodocea nodosa meadows, are regulated for conservation in the Valencian Community by decree 64/2022. The Generalitat is designated as the entity responsible for surveillance, inspection, and control, and the necessity of a monitoring plan is contemplated in this decree.

Specifically, the conference-analyzed monitoring plan from 2024 defines a protocol for sampling places by depth ranges, from the beach to depths surpassing 25 meters, and investigates the conservation status of the Valencian Community’s meadows.

The project has enabled the creation of a network for monitoring the marine coastline and studying the nautical uses of each space in the Natura 2000 marine network. Researchers, law enforcement agents, and Maritime Rescue have received logistical support and technical advice from this network, thanks to the efforts of coastguards and environmental agents.

Our seagrass meadows “are currently in a good state of conservation, however, there is a wide margin for improvement in their recovery in those areas where they have been reduced or disappeared,” Gomis noted during this session. “It is our duty and our responsibility to redouble our efforts and work side by side towards this common goal,” he added, hence the reason.