The Teulada Moraira Department of the Environment, headed by Carlos Martínez, has promoted and worked with the main victims of the declaration of the Special Conservation Zones (ZEC) to prepare the
document that collects the allegations to this project.
It must be taken into account that the ZECs affect more than one municipality, therefore this document does not have to be dealt with in isolation, that is why we have worked together with El Poble Nou de Benitatxell to reinforce and amplify the requests.
Teulada Moraira will have two marine reserves: the marine area of the Marina Alta and the marine area of Ifach, which means that the municipality has an unusual casuistry. And Benitatxell, like Teulada, is located within the ZEC Espacio Marítimo de la Marina Alta.
Teulada Moraira and El Poble Nou de Benitatxell have requested the following:
• The requirement to have voice and vote in future ZECs that affect our municipalities and that local economic and social actors have representation as reflected in the European Natura 2000 Network regulations.
• Defense of professional fishing activity and traditional fishing gear such as trammel and bonitoleras.
• Make economic activity and nautical tourism compatible together with effective defense and protection of the environment and the seabed, providing control and monitoring measures both to the future managing body of the reserve and to the municipalities themselves, establishing anchorage areas with buoys ecological, regulation of the speed of boats within the ZEC zones, delimitation of diving areas, etc.
• Take into account the reality of our municipalities.
Both municipalities have also signed the allegations presented by the Moraira Nautical Club and the Fishermen's Association:
• Zoning the existing posidonia meadows and analyzing their state of conservation.
• Allow professional trammel fishing without restriction.
• In the areas of the SCI for recurrent anchoring where there is a significant quantity of seagrass, place the maximum number of ecological anchoring buoys.
• Maintain the usual anchoring areas with these buoy installation guidelines.
• The buoys will have to be marked on the marine charts to avoid accidents.
Carlos Martínez, Councilor for the Environment has indicated that "For us it is very important, since the municipality of Teulada Moraira is one of the few municipalities that can say that they have two marine areas on a coastline as small as ours. This is an indication of the great environmental value and diversity that we have on our coast so it has to be preserved. We fully agree on the need for protection and its maintenance for future generations, but we must take into account that many families live and work directly or indirectly from the sea, since whether in activities related to tourism or nautical and these economic activities must necessarily be compatible with the protection of the environment. That is why our allegations are oriented to the fact that we are given a voice and vote in the future management of the park and that it is taken into account that this protection cannot entail a total prohibition of activities, especially professional fishing and activity nautical ".
For his part, the Councilor for the Environment of El Poble Nou de Benitatxell, Jorge Pascual, has highlighted the importance of these measures for the conservation of the municipality's unique cliff coast and its seabed. “Our three coves, Moraig, Testos and Llebeig, host a large influx of boats, especially in summer. It is necessary to strongly preserve the seabed, and for this reason we have asked that the maximum number of ecological anchoring buoys be installed to protect the posidonia ”.
Let's hope that the allegations do not go in the sense of being able to build more, because Benitachell, for example, is a concrete horror.