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New eco-friendly moorings set to protect the Mar Menor's fragile seabed this summer
61 regulated anchorage points will be installed around two of the lagoon's islands, with bookings opening from July 1
Anyone planning to drop anchor near the islands of the Mar Menor this summer will need to think again. A network of 61 eco-friendly moorings is currently being installed around Isla Perdiguera and Isla Mayor, also known as Isla del Barón, in a project designed to put an end to the kind of uncontrolled anchoring that has quietly been damaging the lagoon's seabed for decades.The initiative, a collaboration between the Cartagena Ayuntamiento and the Regional Ministry of the Environment, is funded with €511,000 from the European Union's Next Generation EU programme. The moorings will be ready for use from July 1, with reservations managed through the same online platform already used for similar systems at Cabo de Palos and Isla Grosa, so many sailors will already be familiar with how it works.
The three mooring zones are split across the two islands. Perdiguera Oeste will offer 21 spaces for boats up to six and nine metres, Perdiguera Este will have seven spaces for vessels up to 12 metres, and Barón Oeste will have 33 moorings for boats up to six, nine and 12 metres.
The system works by attaching vessels directly to permanent surface buoys rather than dropping anchors onto the seabed. Each mooring is fixed using structures called biotopes, which are designed not only to protect the seabed but also to encourage new marine colonies to form around them. They are built to last 25 years and prevent the chain friction that traditional anchoring causes.
Before installation, a cleanup operation removed illegal moorings, abandoned chains, ropes and other debris from the area. The whole project is part of the Comprehensive Management Plan for the Protected Areas of the Mar Menor.
Regional Councillor Juan María Vázquez, who visited the site on Tuesday June 23, was clear about what is at stake. "Every anchor that is no longer allowed to fall freely onto the seabed is one less instance of damage to the seagrass meadows and the habitats that sustain the biodiversity of the Mar Menor," he said. The moorings are specifically positioned to protect Cymodocea nodosa seagrass and the noble pen shell, a critically endangered bivalve mollusk.
Cartagena Councillor Álvaro Valdés, also present at the visit, put it simply: "We believe these ecological anchorages are fundamental for respecting nature and also for enjoying the Mar Menor."
Image: Ayuntamiento de Cartagena
