The Formentera Council has signed on to take part in Earth Hour 2016, a worldwide push to turn off electric lights for an entire sixty minutes. Tomorrow, March 19th from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m., authorities will cut off the flow of electricity to streetlamps in Sant Francesc at the town square —plaça de la Constitució— as well as carrers Eivissa and Ramón Llull.

Environment councillor Daisee Aguilera encouraged Formentera residents to “join in on the lights-out effort”, calling it a “symbolic way to take on climate change”. Every year since 2007, the World Wide Fund for Nature (better known by the initials WWF) has organised the event called Earth Hour. This year, Aguilera explained, the Council has decided to jump on board by switching off public lights along some of the main streets in Sant Francesc.

The Formentera Council, by way of the administration’s department of trade and the local tourism advisory board, has announced plans to use the employment website turijobs.com to select 130 qualified professionals to fill positions this summer in different tourism sector companies on the island. “The idea is to propose qualified workers to the tourism sector,” explained director of the board Carlos Bernús, “and in so doing improve the quality of tourist services here on the island”.

The selection process began one week ago and, according to Xavier Martín, head of the Turijobs portal, more than 4,000 candidates have already expressed interest. Martín says the process will create “a reserve of tourism professionals” in order to meet the need for quality personnel this summer.

Interested applicants have until 31 March to send their CVs to the site –www.turijobs.com/minisites/formentera. CiF councillor of tourism Alejandra Ferrer reported that the most qualified applicants will be asked to participate in face-to-face staff selection events held between 4 and 7 April in Madrid, Sevilla, Bilbao and Barcelona. Ferrer noted, “interviews in Formentera will also be organised if the need for local staff arises”.

In the end, business owners themselves will decide who they hire, with the Council offering support for video conferences or other technical needs. The Eivissa-Formentera chamber of commerce has also offered its support for the initiative. In the words of Bernús, “this is a project we are spearheading at the European level”. He added that “it will set us apart in terms of quality tourism”.

This morning, head of local tourism advisory board Carlos Bernús accompanied a group of Chinese journalists on a jaunt up to the island's quintessential lookout spot, el Mirador de la Mola. After taking in the views, Bernús and the team -composed mainly of writers for travel magazines- capped their tour of la Mola with stops at the Majoral workshop and Terramoll's wine cellar. Their itinerary yesterday had the group ambling through the Ses Salines national park and, as the day wound down, taking in a sunset at the Es Cap de Barbaria lighthouse. On the heels of the tour, Fang Fang, head of the Spanish tourism office in Peking and organiser of the adventure, reported that “the journalists were blown away by the sights here on the island”.

The goal, explains Bernús, is for the journalists to get to know Formentera so they can spread the word once back home. “This trip was organised to get the Chinese media talking about the island,” he said, adding that most of the visitors write for niche travel magazines like National Geographic Traveler China. “The kind of tourist we're targeting is one with high purchasing power, whose tour of Spain will include shopping on the mainland and time to wind down afterward,” said Bernús, who pointed out that Formentera fits in perfectly as a relaxing, natural setting to crown a journey.

Last year, Formentera reps promoted the island at Shanghai's tourism trade fair — a trip Bernús indicated has already begun to pay off “with visits like this one”. The Formentera Council picked up the eight-person troupe's travel fare from Eivissa as well as their accomodation and expenses. In the words of Bernús, Asian markets could be a fantastic way to ensure off-season visitors to the island.

From tomorrow, 17 March, the Formentera Council's office of environment will begin removing mounds of posidonia seagrass that have accumulated along the Es Ca Marí shoreline. The announcement was made by environment councillor Daisee Aguilera, who noted “the process will take between two and three days if weather is fair”. The Formentera Council will foot the bill for transport, and any residents interested in using the washed up plant matter for farming or livestock purposes should contact the office of environment. Requests can be made in person at the department (open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.), by email at mediambient@conselldeformentera.cat or by calling 971321210.

The removal process itself will be similar to in 2014, and is being repeated at the behest of the Es Ca Marí neighbourhood association. As Aguilera explained, “in winter the area is hit by both westerly and south-westerly winds, which leads to a tightly packed build-up of seaweed that can reach three metres in height”. Studies indicate that sporadic removals are more appropriate than systematic ones, she said.

Formentera's head of environmental affairs noted the crucial role posidonia seagrass plays in the health of Formentera beaches, pointing out it prevents shoreline erosion. Local beaches are especially susceptible, which explains why complete removal of the seagrass is undesirable. According to Aguilera, the practise – which involves hauling off a portion of the accumulated plant matter – serves a dual function: allowing beach cleaning crews to do their work and preventing further spread of the washed up weeds across the coastline. She also highlighted the fact that, in the process, the tradition of reusing the material has been revived.

Posidonia for composting

The councillor noted the suitability of the dried seagrass in composting. She encouraged Formentera residents to contact the office of environment and give new use to the seagrass, whose nearby prairies have been named a World Heritage site. Aguilera also referred to a recent repurposing of the material that has long been favoured by locals: use in building. “This method has been rehashed and is being employed in the low-income housing currently under construction in Sant Ferran”.