272
R. Sarda . M. Fluvia
on the shoreline changes the property of the soil (from public to private), strongly
modifies the landscape, and can hide speculative activities that bring higher impacts
on the coastal front-line. In addition, it has direct and indirect impacts on the marine
environment. Because of that, the CE strongly recommends an environmental impact
assessment before a new development is constructed. Moreover, the CE has given advice to the administrative bodies to do a careful evaluation of these EIA's procedures
and to introduce other environmental protection plans, as well as quality environmental
management plans during its life operation. Behind all these guidelines, the main recommendation is that the potential benefits of these facilities must be weighed against
the potential adverse impacts on the environment.
Recreational ports and marinas should avoid pristine areas as well as vital areas,
such as wetlands and estuaries. The presence of a 2500 boat marina in the middle of
the natural park of the Aiguamolls of I?Emporda constitutes a serious environmental
ntistake. They should not interfere with important natural resources such as seagrass
meadows, beaches, dune communities, etc. The future offer of the tourist will depend
greatly on these particular natural habitats, as well as public goods. They should know
clearly which are the associated changes and impacts that will promote in the marine
environment in the vicinity as well as in the neighbouring areas, to be able to include
corrective, compensatory, and minimization measures. It is really important to do a
careful environmental diagnosis prior to the construction in order to catalogue the
organisms and habitats inhabiting the zone, the associated looses by physical destruction, and the effects on the neighboring areas (the enlargement of recreational ports
in the vicinity of the Medes Islands Marine Reserve, enhances the pressure on the fragile
ecosystems and emphasizes the need for better regulation).
Recreational ports should also be planned within a regional context analysis. It is
necessary to analyze what is the correct number of moor sites that are needed in a
particular region. Town council managers use to ask the administration for approval
and ratification of the development plans on new infrastructures arguing further economic benefits for their own villages and for the entire region. However, sometimes
recreational ports are hiding other ludic activities (bars, restaurants, shopping areas, ... )
or speculative measures about land use, rather than the fleet of boats that they are going to hold. It is also convenient to analyze the possibilities of having inland winterboat storage for recreational boats that spend a large part of their life static without go
to sea, specially for the seasonal recreational fleet. The number of ports need to be
adequate to the necessities of the fleet, and should not be excessive. Probably in the
Costa Brava we have already obtained this number (the average distance between two
ports is actually 9.4 km).
14.4
The Management Framework
The current management of the Spanish littoral is based on different and very heterogeneous initiatives which are hierarchically ordered by three different administrations:
national (Spanish), autonomic (different autonomic regions of Spain), and municipal.
The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia defines the distribution of responsibilities between the General Administration of Spain (State) and the institutions of self-government and local Administrations of Catalonia (autonomous country). Within this frame-
R. Sarda . M. Fluvia
on the shoreline changes the property of the soil (from public to private), strongly
modifies the landscape, and can hide speculative activities that bring higher impacts
on the coastal front-line. In addition, it has direct and indirect impacts on the marine
environment. Because of that, the CE strongly recommends an environmental impact
assessment before a new development is constructed. Moreover, the CE has given advice to the administrative bodies to do a careful evaluation of these EIA's procedures
and to introduce other environmental protection plans, as well as quality environmental
management plans during its life operation. Behind all these guidelines, the main recommendation is that the potential benefits of these facilities must be weighed against
the potential adverse impacts on the environment.
Recreational ports and marinas should avoid pristine areas as well as vital areas,
such as wetlands and estuaries. The presence of a 2500 boat marina in the middle of
the natural park of the Aiguamolls of I?Emporda constitutes a serious environmental
ntistake. They should not interfere with important natural resources such as seagrass
meadows, beaches, dune communities, etc. The future offer of the tourist will depend
greatly on these particular natural habitats, as well as public goods. They should know
clearly which are the associated changes and impacts that will promote in the marine
environment in the vicinity as well as in the neighbouring areas, to be able to include
corrective, compensatory, and minimization measures. It is really important to do a
careful environmental diagnosis prior to the construction in order to catalogue the
organisms and habitats inhabiting the zone, the associated looses by physical destruction, and the effects on the neighboring areas (the enlargement of recreational ports
in the vicinity of the Medes Islands Marine Reserve, enhances the pressure on the fragile
ecosystems and emphasizes the need for better regulation).
Recreational ports should also be planned within a regional context analysis. It is
necessary to analyze what is the correct number of moor sites that are needed in a
particular region. Town council managers use to ask the administration for approval
and ratification of the development plans on new infrastructures arguing further economic benefits for their own villages and for the entire region. However, sometimes
recreational ports are hiding other ludic activities (bars, restaurants, shopping areas, ... )
or speculative measures about land use, rather than the fleet of boats that they are going to hold. It is also convenient to analyze the possibilities of having inland winterboat storage for recreational boats that spend a large part of their life static without go
to sea, specially for the seasonal recreational fleet. The number of ports need to be
adequate to the necessities of the fleet, and should not be excessive. Probably in the
Costa Brava we have already obtained this number (the average distance between two
ports is actually 9.4 km).
14.4
The Management Framework
The current management of the Spanish littoral is based on different and very heterogeneous initiatives which are hierarchically ordered by three different administrations:
national (Spanish), autonomic (different autonomic regions of Spain), and municipal.
The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia defines the distribution of responsibilities between the General Administration of Spain (State) and the institutions of self-government and local Administrations of Catalonia (autonomous country). Within this frame-