Government unveils plans for a moratorium on marinas

The Balearic government is to approve a moratorium on marinas and nautical installations within the next few months. The news will send a chill through the nautical industry as it will come under a similar freeze to that of the construction industry and commercial sector. Government spokesperson Antoni Garcias said yesterday that work on the moratorium has already started and that the government believes that new measures need to be adopted to prevent an increase in nautical installations; not quite the news the nautical industry was hoping for. Garcias said that the cabinet met recently and decided the further construction of new marinas and the expansion of existing ones, needs to be better regulated while improving facilities and what the Balearics' recreational nautical industry has to offer. Garcias said that the government hopes to approve a new fast-tracked moratorium within the space of the next month. Coastal planning regulations, which the government has asked to see, currently state that new concessions for the construction or development of new marinas or nautical installations can not be granted anywhere in the Balearics. With regards to existing marinas, they can only be enlarged by ten per cent of the authorised mooring area. A new marina moratorium will come as a blow to the nautical industry which has for years been pushing and fighting for more moorings and marinas. Last year Spanish marina bosses warned the Balearics government that if it did not give a little and help the industry, the Balearics, one of the most popular summer sailing destinations in Europe, will see its market position slip. Elsewhere in the Mediterranean, governments and local authorities, all too aware of the big spending quality tourist the industry attracts, are doing all they can to help their nautical industry by building more marinas and offering attractive mooring rates and first class facilities. The Balearic coastline will be dotted by yachts waiting for a mooring to come free again this summer, but the industry needs support and help, not sink it.