The Direcció General de Transport Marítim i Aeri of the Conselleria de Mobilitat i Habitatge in collaboration with other public bodies with powers of control and surveillance of the maritime domain will launch this summer new devices for control and inspection of pleasure craft, to prevent nautical charter activities are carried out without meeting the legal requirements to do so.
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This week the entities interested in collaborating in this operation met at the Conselleria de Mobilitat i Habitatge, such as the Guardia Civil, the Capitanías Marítimas, Demarcación de Costas, representatives of the Conselleria de Medi Ambient and the Direcció General de Transport Marítim i Aeri del Govern de les Illes Balears, the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands, PortsIB, APEAM and APEAM,
PortsIB, APEAM and associations of yacht clubs and marinas. This is the second time that a joint operation has been carried out to intensify the fight against illegal nautical charters. The first experience was carried out in 2021.
The aim of this coordinated exercise is to control and inspect irregular activities related to the commercial activity of chartering passenger transport vessels, as well as anchoring in illegal areas or picking up people at points not authorised for this purpose. Checks will also be carried out on documentation and permits, as well as on skippers’ licences.
In view of the good results of the measures previously carried out, the Government will continue to coordinate these actions on the different islands with the aim of intensifying controls on irregular activities related to nautical charters and thus avoid unfair competition, improper use of the coast and anchoring on Posidonia. These types of companies make improper use of the coast and illegally use the Golondrinas docks to load and unload clients, supplies and cleaning staff.
64 sanctioning proceedings in 2021
Last year, the Direcció General de Transport Marítim i Aeri opened 64 sanctioning proceedings for infringements related to the rental of pleasure boats in the Balearic Islands as a whole. This figure is three times the number of proceedings opened in 2019 (18) and 2020 (15).
Of these 64 sanctioning proceedings, there are 35 for minor infringements, 27 for serious and 2 for very serious. In total, during the year 2021, fines amounting to 77,000 euros have been imposed. In 2022, 15 sanctioning proceedings have been opened (3 for minor infringements and 12 for serious infringements), either as a result of reports made by the Guardia Civil, actions carried out by the Directorate General’s technicians or based on information received by other bodies.
This action reinforces the lines of control of the charter sector that the Direcció General de Transport Marítim i Aeri del Govern de les Illes. These inspection mechanisms are, on the one hand, conducting inspections “in situ” to companies in the sector in order to verify compliance with the law in their activity and, on the other hand, a random review of the documentation of the responsible statements for vessels for charter service.
Obligation of responsible declaration and entry in the register.
It is worth remembering that during the last legislature different actions were carried out in relation to the sector, such as the approval of Decree 21/2017, of 5 May, which regulates the activity of chartering boats and pleasure boats, establishing the obligation of a responsible declaration to start the services as well as the registration in the Balearic Registry enabled by the Direcció General de Transport Marítim i Aeri (General Directorate of Maritime and Air Transport).
During the year 2021, 3,415 responsible declarations of the nautical charter in force were presented. On 19 April 2022, we already exceeded this figure with 3,730 declarations. These declarations currently in force correspond to vessels from 27 countries: 82.8% are Spanish vessels, 4.8% are German and 3.8% are British. The rest (Croatia, Slovakia, France, Malta…) represent 8.6%.