In the Islands, we have achieved a new administrative feat, a new magic trick: to be able to expand a marine reserve, we have agreed to reduce the protection of all of them. And I explain it. We are located in Freus, between Ibiza and Formentera, the first marine reserve declared in the Balearic Islands, in May 1999. Last year, the Government, after presenting its ambitious Marine Conservation Plan, announced the expansion of the protected area. And, to no one's surprise, recreational fishermen took up arms with their well-known tactics to pressure politicians: references to tradition, to "reserves are closed areas for professionals" and that very Sicilian-sounding threat to withdraw votes from the PP. By the way, tradition as an argument to curb environmental protection would deserve a whole article, but that will be another day.And what has been the Government's response? Now comes the sleight of hand, because the solution proposes to expand the reserve but to reduce, in return, the level of protection for both this area and Punta de la Creu, Tagomago and the western islets. If it is finally approved (the objection phase has just closed), recreational fishermen will be able to increase fishing quotas and, in addition, use techniques that until now are not permitted in most of the reserves. The director of the Marilles Foundation, biologist Aniol Esteban, summarized it as follows on IB3 radio's Nautilus: “We are talking about a decree that will increase fishing pressure in the marine reserves of Ibiza and Formentera”. Disrupted reserves.Global warming

Fishermen believe that the sea belongs to them and that, therefore, they have the right to exploit it infinitely, without taking into account that entire populations have already been exterminated. Without taking into account the added pressure of global warming (even sardine populations are dwindling, but you can be sure they will be fished until there are none left, because freedom is more important than biodiversity). Any progress in the defense of the marine environment continues to be subject to the veto right of the sectors that exploit its resources. A minority veto over a common good. We have assumed that fishermen – professional or recreational – have a kind of special authority over the sea, an automatic legitimacy to determine what can and cannot be done there. Why? I insist: WHY? Why should those who exploit the sea decide on its protection if we all depend on it?The problem is, in large part, a matter of language and structure, because the Balearic reserves are technically marine reserves of fishing interest and, of course, even if this allows for the improvement of populations, the objective is that, in the future, fishermen will have more marine life to exploit. They don't even call it life, they call it 'fishing resources', and until we stop thinking about the oceans and their inhabitants from the perspective of predation, we will not be able to save them. It's the same linguistic trap with which whales were protected just forty years ago. They weren't stopped from being killed just like that in view of the catastrophe their disappearance represented, but rather a moratorium was established, which means they are allowed to grow and multiply, and we'll see if they are ever hunted again. Resources, stock, and exploitation are loaded words with which humans sustain their self-proclaimed status as gods of the world – unsatisfied and irresponsible gods, as Yuval Noah Harari would say – to continue considering that animals and their habitats are there for their sole profit. A language in the service of an idea that leads us to disaster, that hides that our entire life depends on a healthy ocean, that without it there is nothing. It's time we understood that its health is ours. So I will go even further, and you can call me radical; if we are clear that the sea is overexploited, that there is neither the diversity nor the populations of twenty or thirty years ago – and I won't go any further – why is it assumed as normal to continue eating the ocean? Why do those who sustain overexploitation have more right than I do to decide on the future?The sea does not belong to those who exploit it. The sea is a common good on which we all depend, including those who do not fish and those who have even reached the –uncomfortable for many, but difficult to ignore– conclusion that in an overexploited ecosystem, the most coherent response is to stop eating it. Conservation should not start with the question of how we can continue fishing without reaching the point of no return, but rather what we are willing to give up – here and now – so that ecosystems continue to exist. And perhaps the marine protected areas we should have in the Islands should not be reserves of fishing interest, but let's see who dares to open this debate.

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In the Balearic Islands, the coastal space not only constitutes an environmental heritage of the highest order, but is also a structural pillar of the Archipelago's economy and identity. Coastal ecosystems —beaches, dunes, salt flats, lagoons, cliffs, and posidonia meadows— function as interconnected and inseparable habitats, part of a harmonious whole. Their preservation is key to the good health of marine and terrestrial biodiversity and, moreover, represents a factor of excellence in the tourism model.From this point of view, the tendency to privatize or regulate in favor of commercial interests, as is the case with the new coastal law that the Government of the Balearic Islands intends, represents a direct threat to these strategic values. Continuing to bet on a coastline as a space for private exploitation implies displacing public interest and degrading the most valuable resource that sustains the Balearic economy: its natural environment. The coast should not be understood as a marketable good, but as a common, vital, and organic asset for citizens and also for visitors. In this order, brazenly, not the other way around. The Balearic Islands are a country and, incidentally, a tourist destination, we cannot fail to take this into account.The Government, with the new regulation, intends to save irregular buildings and economic activities within the public maritime-terrestrial domain. Bars, restaurants, and beach bars, which do not comply with the state coastal law, are intended to be included in the register of constructions that the autonomous regulation considers of “cultural interest”. An exceptionally justifiable point, only in cases of irrefutable heritage and ethnographic value, always for public and community use.By favoring concessions and lucrative uses in the public maritime-terrestrial domain, territorial cohesion is weakened and citizen trust in institutions is eroded. Preserving the coastline is not an economic obstacle, but an essential condition for maintaining the productive and social fabric of the Islands. Right now, safeguarding these systems is essential to curb erosion, mitigate the action of storms, and, ultimately, globally help to mitigate the effects of climate change. In a sea as threatened and stressed as the Balearic Sea, strengthening coastal protection and marine reserve figures is a necessary condition to curb biodiversity loss and maintain ecological balance in the long term.On the other hand, the new Balearic coastal law constitutes an evident act of institutional disloyalty, by prioritizing sectoral and private interests over the principles of environmental protection and common use of public space. The purpose of the transfer of powers from the State to the community that took place at the time was to promote homogeneous environmental policies (the community is competent in environmental matters), seek efficiency through proximity to the territory, and boost preservation. The defense of kiosks (and other buildings) located in the public maritime-terrestrial domain not only violates the original constitutional philosophy, on which the law should be based, but also opens the door to a covert privatization of coastal space.Engage in clientelism

All of this, from an institutional perspective, leads one to think that the current Government of the Balearic Islands cannot be trusted. Its behavior is far from exemplary: through a fabricated stratagem known as “local identity”, the Government takes advantage of the transfer of new powers to consolidate illegal activities and engage in clientelism. This perverse drift erodes trust and collaboration between administrations, weakens the sovereign authority of our country, and jeopardizes the legal balance between the general interest and private privileges. In an archipelago particularly vulnerable to climate change and tourist pressure, promoting exceptions that perpetuate coastal occupation is a grave error that compromises our credibility as an adult and modern society.Allow me to explore the poetic path in the face of the stubbornness of the eternally stubborn. I know I will neither soften them nor make them change; however, I believe in lyricism as a drop capable of piercing clay. I am drawn to the beauty of Sylvain Tesson's words in "La vida simple", when he sings of the vital need he feels to change his relationship with nature: “I want to put down roots, to become part of the earth after having been part of the wind”. To stop eroding, to abandon the habit of flying over places, at the rhythm of digital messages without music, and to curse the capital's slot machines, perhaps this will help us to be a little freer and richer. So free as to observe the vote in future elections, from a perspective more respectful of the country's sovereignty, collective well-being, and not with our heads bowed before the market.Possibly, the Government plays with the idyllic image of jetties where boats were kept, forming part of a unique landscape, and attractive piers, which have acquired public use because the former concessionaires have stopped paying. But, this is not the issue, the catalog of impacts is much broader; a lot of concrete and activities not permitted in expired concessions. Not much more can be expected. The Executive has long since aligned itself with radicals who traffic in people's dreams to feed the greed of merchants. They can be fought.

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