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  • Greenheart Ibiza

    The Greenheart initiative is a project farm, supported by the non-profit Fundación por el Futuro, it encourages symbiotic relationships between cultural tradition, information technology and sustainable ecological development.
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  • Casita Verde

    Situated in a beautiful valley near the village of San Jose in Ibiza, La Casita Verde is a model ecological centre that is operated by volunteers and open to the public on Sundays.
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  • Greenheart Music

    GreenHeartMusic is a music platform based in Ibiza, Spain. Presenting artists of different influences who express their connections to nature through their music.
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  • Guía Verde a Ibiza y Formentera

    A bi-lingual directory to Ibiza and Formentera of local groups, businesses and services that offer or use environmentally friendly practices.
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  • QL Studio › Websites Made Easy

    Quinta Linda is a low-impact living space and website design studio based in Portugal.
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  • Greenheart Resonancia

    An educational and fun programme of practical, stimulating experiences discovering sustainable and respectful habits in order to face the realities of climate change.
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  • Green Ibiza Tours

    Our Green Ibiza Tours provide responsible tourism holidays in Ibiza offering a full programme of eco activities and nature happenings.
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  • Greenheart Travel

    With the aim of promoting the Greenheart message around the world, travelling members of the rapidly growing Greenheart family will write blogs and add photos of their travels.
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  • Ibiza Gold

    The Greenheart Carob project plans to rejuvenate an important traditional economic activity, as well as motivating many local land owners.

Oil spill in Ibiza

Source: www.theibizasun.com

A cargo ship operated by the firm, Iscomar, sank off the coast of Ibiza at around 4a.m. last Wednesday, after crashing into the small island of es Dau Gros. The boat, which contained ninety-eight trailers, two trucks and five cars, left the port of Ibiza a little behind schedule at just before 3a.m. Fifteen minutes later, crew members heard a terrifying noise as the boat crashed into the tiny island of es Dau Gros, opening up a significant crack in the boat. The twenty people on board had time to raise the alarm and launch the rescue boats, before abandoning ship.

A tow-boat from Ibiza port was soon on the scene, and immediately tried to drag the ship away from the busy entrance to the port. However due to the large amount of water which had already entered the boat, it was only able to tow the vessel some three hundred metres, before she eventually sank.

There were twenty people on board at the time, eighteen crew members and the drivers of the two trucks. While thirteen were able to get into the life-boats, seven remained in the water waiting to be rescued. At around 4.30a.m they arrived back at port where they were all taken to Can Misses hospital, several suffering from hyperthermia and shock. They were all released the following morning, and remain on the island while investigations continue into the cause of the accident.

The second in command, Jesus Ortero, praised his crew members as he revealed that they had all behaved in exemplary fashion. He added that they were all still very shaken up by the accident, and considered they were lucky to be alive. He said that if the vessel had had slightly more weight, then it would certainly have tipped over.

Once it was clear that there had been no injuries in the accident, fears turned to the huge ecological problem that the island now faced. The vessel was carrying a total of one hundred and fifty tonnes of fuel. There were immediate signs of a leak, and divers were sent down to try and seal the cracks on Wednesday morning. It was initially reported, after the work had been carried out, that there were no more leaks. However, by Friday it was discovered that the leaks were continuing from three other cracks which had not, at first, been detected.

Specialist boats were immediately sent out to try and limit the damage, and to keep the fuel away from the coast, in particular the ses Salinas natural park. However, unfavourable winds made this task impossible, and by Friday three beaches in Ibiza Town had been forced to shut - Talamanca, ses Figueretes and part of Playa den Bossa. Instead of bathers, men and women in white protective clothing could be seen on the three affected beaches, starting to clean up after the arrival of the fuel. The three leaks could not eventually be sealed until Sunday, after high winds made the work impossible on Saturday.

It was quickly decided that the remainder of the fuel should be extracted, and Saturday saw the arrival in Ibiza of the tanker, "Jacomina", the vessel that is to carry out the task. Once the fuel has been removed, then it will be decided what will be done with the ship.

The response from Central Government was swift, and the environment minister, Magdalena Alvarez, was on the island almost immediately controlling the work. She was quick to deny that there were any similarities with the Prestige. The Prestige boat sank two hundred and forty kilometres off the coast of Galicia in November 2002, with catastrophic results that are still being felt today. She pointed out that the Prestige contained 70,000 tonnes of fuel and the Don Pedro just 150 tonnes. She said that everything would be done to ensure that the damage was limited, and pleaded with the press "not to blow the story out of proportion."

Her views were shared by the Interior Minister at the Consell, Maria Angeles Leciñena, who said that within a week most of the slick should have been cleaned up, and that the water would be crystal clear, as normal, within one month.

As fears of a crisis to the tourist industry in the area were alleviated, it was revealed that only one major operator had reported any cancellations in bookings. The majority of tourists who arrived at hotels in Talamanca, used the closure of the beaches around their hotel to hire cars and explore other areas of the island. However the economic effect was felt in the restaurants and bars in the area, but especially in Talamanca. The tour-operator, TUI, put on free buses for its clients to take them to ses Salinas, but it was an option that, although appreciated by the client, was not taken up by many, as most tourists chose to laze around the hotel swimming pool.

As fears of a reservations crisis were allayed, and the cleaning up operation looked to be under control, thoughts turned to the cause of the accident. The company that owns the ship was quick to blame human error, claiming that the captain had taken the boat too close to the island. Although he was not arrested, he did spend several hours helping police with their enquiries. However, he did not make any comment to the waiting press on his departure from the police station, preferring to wait until the official verdict was made public.