Environment

Alcudia project for Maristany birdwatching

Maristany, which lies between Hidropark and the sports centre in Alcudia. | Archive

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterAlcudia12/10/2017 00:00

It is sometimes referred to as the Albufera of Alcudia, but in reality not a great deal of wetland remains in the municipality. Much of it was reclaimed in order to create the City of Lakes in the 1960s. The unaffected wetland, the Albufera Nature Park, is in Muro and Sa Pobla.

But the most significant part which still exists in Alcudia is Maristany (sea and lagoon), and there has long been a demand to make more of it than has been the case. Therefore, the town hall has a project to make it an area for the observation of birds. This will cost 100,000 euros, and the town hall is waiting on a decision from the regional government for the use of tourist tax revenue; it expects to hear today if this is going to be a possibility.

Discussions have been ongoing with the Costas Authority for several months. These have been about the obtaining of permissions to use what is classified as maritime public domain, hence the involvement of the Costas.

Maristany has been protected since 1995, i.e. it can't be developed, and attempts to establish projects for birdwatching and general upkeep have been made in the past. The most notable one was for use of revenue from the original ecotax of 2002-2003, but nothing ever came of it.

The whole area is 85.5 hectares in size. Twelve hectares are water, and the main lagoon accounts for ten of these. The town hall's project envisages the creation of an island for nesting in the centre of the lagoon as well as recovery work, signage and an observation platform.