Last week, the sailboat Blue Panda of WWF arrived at Marina Port Ibiza as the last destination port of her campaign to protect the marine reserves of the Balearic Islands, this time with a goal: Tagomago, a marine reserve since 2018 that is already showing signs of recovery.

The boat has used Marina Port Ibiza as a base port and meeting point to receive Ibiza residents and different groups of interest, and  to introduce her campaign for the conservation of marine reserves and the benefits it entails both for the ecosystem and for the residents. Having one like Tagomago s, where a great number of marine species is a great example.

José Luís García Varas, head of the WWF marine program tells us about the objective of this campaign, which is to protect 30 percent of the Mediterranean sea from now until 2030. An objective that will only be possible, through the awareness of the different stakeholder groups such as government organizations, fishermen s associations and citizens, who are the main ones involved in making this protection of marine areas viable.

Ibiza has been one of the ports chosen for this campaign for a clear reason, José Luís tells us due to the insularity, the islands depend on a healthy sea. Since many of the economic activities in the Balearic Islands are focused on the sea and depends on it, it is vital to maintain a good environment in that marine area.

According to José Luís, Tagomago marine reserve, protected for three years, is showing signs of recovery in terms of biomass of commercial species in the total protection areas, where fishing is prohibited throughout the year. This is a very good indication. In this visit to the island, we have seen the need to expand the extension of this reserve so that the protection effect is even greater.

One of the missions of the Blue Panda has during her visit to the marina, apart from the different meetings, was the removal of a trap fishing net that floated in the Ibiza’s water, but due to the bad sea of these days it has been impossible for them to withdraw, it will be pending for the next visit to the island.