Arrels Marines claims to recover the beaches of Port de Pollença and improve water quality

Pollença"We want to swim at the Moll again!". With this slogan, dozens of people gathered this Sunday at the Port of Pollença in a day called by Arrels Marines to demand improvements in water quality and to recover the use of the coastline by residents.

The initiative was born through a social media campaign based on a very simple question: why are more and more people from Port de Pollença directly discarding swimming at the Moll beaches and moving to other areas? According to Arrels Marines, behind this situation there are several problems that have been accumulating for years, such as wastewater discharges, illegal moorings, and the degradation of some areas of the bay.

A protest in the water

The day began at 10 am on the Voramar promenade with a proposal that combined protest with leisure activities. Participants formed a human chain on the beach and read a manifesto with the entity's main demands.

After the protest part, the youngest participated in a float race and various beach games were held. The objective was precisely to recover, even if symbolically, the space that Arrels Marines considers should once again be a regular bathing spot for residents.

The entity, founded in Pollença in 2020, focuses a good part of its activity on the bay of Pollença and argues that one cannot speak of a completely degraded bay, but rather that there are specific areas with particularly high pressure. Among these, it points out the inland sector between the military base and the Yacht Club, where it has detected problems related to moorings, spills, and pollution.

What does Arrels Marines ask for?

One of the main demands is to develop a master plan for sewage systems for the Port of Pollença, progressively renew the wastewater network, and have systems that allow for faster leak detection. The objective is to reduce possible discharges that end up affecting the coastline.

Regarding moorings, the entity demands to inventory irregular moorings, remove abandoned elements from the seabed, and study what capacity a future buoy field should have. It also proposes reviewing the mooring system to ensure that the local population can continue to have access to the sea.

Arrels Marines also proposes limiting the speed of boats, promoting a pilot plan to renaturalize the most degraded coastal areas, and developing a municipal ordinance that regulates the different uses of the beaches.

A problem that has been claimed for years

The situation of moorings and debris at the bottom of the bay is not new. In a joint action by Ports IB and the Pollença Town Council, nearly 30 cubic meters of debris were removed from the seabed, including abandoned moorings and boats in poor condition. Arrels Marines participated in that action with other local entities.

Now, with 'We want to swim at the Pier again!', the association wants to focus on an issue that goes beyond environmental conservation: that residents can once again feel the coast of Port de Pollença as their own safe space to swim and enjoy the sea.