The recognized marine biologist Pep Coll dies

PalmaPep Coll, one of the best-known and most influential marine biologists in the Balearic Islands, has died in Palma after an illness, and his passing has left a strong impact on the conservation and marine sector. Pep Coll's death leaves behind a career dedicated to the knowledge of the Balearic Islands' marine ecosystems and, especially, to the study of marine reserves, fisheries management, and the mechanisms that allow biodiversity to recover when a marine area is properly protected.

A Doctor of Marine Ecology from the University of the Balearic Islands and a graduate in Biology, specializing in Zoology, from the University of Barcelona, Coll developed much of his career linked to marine research and monitoring protected areas. He was also a professional diver, a condition that marked his way of approaching the environment: combining scientific analysis with direct observation of ecosystems.

He was an associate professor of Ecology at the UIB between 1998 and 2003 and dedicated a significant part of his career to monitoring the marine reserves of the Balearic Islands. Professionally linked to the study and management of these areas, he participated in projects to evaluate fish populations and the evolution of protected ecosystems.

One of his main lines of work was the so-called "reserve effect": the capacity of certain protected areas to recover biomass, increase species presence, and improve ecosystem structure when human pressure is reduced and management is effective.

His doctoral thesis was dedicated to the evaluation of artificial reefs and marine reserves as management tools for the coastal fish resources of the Balearic Islands, analyzing to what extent these figures could contribute to the recovery of fish communities and better fisheries management.

His career was closely linked to the development of marine conservation in the Balearics. In this field, Coll considered the protection of areas like Cabrera to have been a turning point. In an interview with the Marilles Foundation, he explained that "the protection of Cabrera was a good turning point because it responded quickly to the recovery of previously damaged marine resources".

For Coll, marine reserves were not just protection figures, but management tools based on scientific data. He argued that declaring a protected area was only the first step and that for a reserve to work, it required monitoring, control, and resources. In this regard, he also warned of the risk of trivializing these figures if they were not accompanied by adequate management.

In recent years, one of his concerns was the impact of climate change on the Mediterranean and on areas that already had some degree of protection. Coll had explained how, after decades of underwater observation, he had seen significant changes in the Balearic Sea: the loss of water transparency, the transformation of the coastline, increasing human pressure, and the difficulties some species faced in maintaining themselves in an increasingly altered environment.

In an interview about ocean warming, he warned that these changes were already affecting ecosystems and forcing a review of how marine conservation was understood. His perspective was not only that of a researcher studying the effects of environmental change, but also that of a person who had been a direct witness to the transformation of the Mediterranean.

Coll also participated in debates on how to make the protection of marine areas more effective. In recent years, he insisted that the declaration of a reserve or a protection figure could not be limited to paper, but must be accompanied by real measures of management and scientific monitoring.

His career is part of a period in which the Balearic Islands began to develop a specific marine conservation policy, with the creation of reserves and a greater incorporation of scientific knowledge in environmental decision-making.

Pep Coll dedicated his professional life to studying a specific question: how the sea responds when human pressure is reduced. The data and studies to which he contributed are now part of the knowledge necessary to manage the marine ecosystems of the Balearic Islands