The Formentera Council's environment department reports that nearly 35 volunteers gathered Saturday morning to take part in a day of educational outreach and environmental action, clearing human-made mounds of stones from Es Trucadors.

The day got going at 10.30am and was finished by 2.00pm. Nearby nature reserve staff and fauna specialists helped familiarise volunteers with the steps to follow in dismantling the rock piles depending on the stones in question. Some, they were told, should to be taken to the waterline while others, which serve as refuges for tiny invertebrates and other species inhabiting the area, were to be left inland.

Volunteers worked in groups and formed two chains, the human links rotating to cover the area where most of the piles littered the landscape.

A team of individuals from the regional nature institute (Ibanat), environmental defence group Gen-Gob, Formentera Sense Plastic, Ses Salines nature reserve staff and management and the Formentera Council joined volunteers at the event.

CiF environment secretary Daisee Aguilera hailed the efforts of the people, groups and offices of the public administration that joined in and “helped restore the area to its original natural beauty”. The secretary noted that Es Trucadors, which sits smack in the middle of Ses Salines nature reserve, whose exposure to wind and waves makes particularly susceptible to erosion. Those same weather conditions are behind the strange and unique coastal features that are one of the reserve's defining characteristics—and the reason it is vulnerable to even subtle changes.

At the end of the day crews planted a sign encouraging future visitors to leave stones where they find them and pointing to the space's fragility in explaining how changes to the landscape can hurt flora and fauna.

The Formentera Council welcomes a series of proposed measures from the regional government that were laid out yesterday as part of an unveiling by two administration officials—minister of territory, energy and mobility Marc Pons and head of ports and airports Xavier Ramis—of an order known as the Maritime Transport decree.

CiF president Jaume Ferrer called the order “a crucial step on the road to definitive approval” for a measure aimed at “addressing an issue that has held the attention of the Formentera Council for three legislative terms already”. Ferrer congratulated the Balearic ministry and directorate general of territory (a field often called “spatial planning” in Europe) on the success of their work with Formentera's mobility department in building consensus around the decree's overarching vision for the island's maritime transport, and confided: “We're looking forward to the prospect of the decree's speedy completion and adoption”.

Maritime Transport decree
The decree has its roots in Llei 11/2010 (November 2), a piece of legislation concerning maritime transport empowering the Govern balear to dictate regulations and administrative provisions necessary to assuring regular transport in tune with the mobility needs of people in the region. The legislation also regulates transport associated with leisure and tourism, and gives legal force to the scheduling and frequency of passages between islands as well as requirements of guaranteed service provision.

Identifying the route linking the La Savina (Formentera) and Eivissa ports as a “strategic line” and a “maritime route in the public interest”, the decree affords special attention to the case of Formentera and the features that amplify residents' perceived remoteness. The idea is to accommodate Formentera travellers whose travel plans, whether early morning or late night, necessarily involve passage through Eivissa.

CiF mobility secretary Rafael González welcomed the new order on the grounds that it addresses many pleas voiced locally. “Early-bird and red-eye ferry journeys between Formentera and Eivissa were high on that list”, said González, “along with the need to regulate sea excursions and guaranteeing universal access to them”. The secretary applauded the Govern's commitment to finding solutions for those sticking points. “The proposed formulas will be reviewed once the documents are made available to ensure they address and resolve the concerns of Formentera residents", he said.

A period for public comments on the order, beginning today, means that contributions will be accepted from the distinct entities, groups and institutions with ties to maritime transport.