Balearic Islands report decline in illegal Posidonia anchoring, Ibiza rates double

The 2026 Mar Balear report shows illegal anchoring on Posidonia seagrass beds across the Balearic Islands fell to an average of 6.4% in 2025, down from a peak of 17.3% in 2018. While Mallorca and Menorca saw modest reductions (Mallorca from 6.8% to 6.4%, Menorca from 8.7% to 5.3%), Ibiza experienced a sharp rise, with detections doubling from 10.3% to 21.3% in the same period. Formentera’s rate increased slightly from 1% to 2.2%.

The Posidonia Surveillance Service (IBANAT) operated 19 vessels in 2025 and carried out about 181,500 monitoring actions. Eight low‑impact buoy fields were managed, with Mallorca hosting the most buoys (115) and Ibiza allocating a higher share of buoys for larger vessels. The number of waste‑collection vessels has been halved since 2010, reducing annual marine debris removal from over 200 tonnes to about 28 tonnes in 2024.