SCIENTISTS TO STUDY MAJORCA COASTLINE

THE Balearics Port Authority has granted the use of most of the lighthouse installations at Ses Salines so that the Scientific Investigations Advisory Service (CSIC) can carry out research on the coastline and waters between Majorca and the island of Cabrera. Thanks to this agreement, the Mediterranean Advanced Studies Institute (IMEDEA) of the CSIC based in Esporles, will carry out research in Ses Salines on the coastline, on marine microbiology and oceanography.

Restructuring works will shortly be carried out on the building situated alongside the Ses Salines lighthouse in the municipality of Santanyí, where, when finished, scientists will be able to carry out their work. The lighthouse, meanwhile, will continue sending out signals to shipping. Using the occasion of the press conference, Triay expressed his satisfaction with the agreement as it will allow re-use of a building that was formerly the lighthouse keeper's home. Hence, a building dating from the 19th century will facilitate current scientific research work. The building will allow for the opening of an “experimental station for coastline ecology and oceanography” in order to observe the Majorcan coastline at first hand. In total, the CSIC will be able to make use of 390 square metres, where scientists will be able to work on questions such as water quality, variety of marine life, sea currents and definitively investigate nature “in situ”, pointed out Joaquim Tintoré, director of IMEDEA. The handing over by the Balearics Ports Authority will be for an initial period of five years, extendable for another five, and to comply with the law, the CSIC will pay a token 60 euros a month. Emilio Lora, CSIS president, at the presentation on Friday, thanked port authority boss Francesc Triay for his sensitivity to the issue because “science is also culture”; at the same time that he praised the professional effort that IMEDEA is putting into the project, it being one of the 120 investigation institutes that CSIC has in Spain. The CSIC President referred to IMEDEA as “one of the jewels in the crown” for its investigative work and its international influence.
In the next few weeks, according to Tintoré, IMEDIA will put its plan of scientific action into effect. The accord comes under the auspices of Port Authority legislation that gives new uses to lighthouses of the archipelago, as in the case of Sa Dragonera or Caballería on Minorca. Triay made reference to the importance of conserving lighthouse installations with their highly individual architectural characteristics.