Inside Sardinia’s struggle against coastal overtourism

Officials and environmental scientists are warning that plant, animal and marine life is suffering due to an unsustainable number of tourists and their irresponsible behaviour.

La Maddalena archipelago is one of the most picturesque spots in Sardinia, with untainted beaches and flora-filled rocky outcrops. 
It is home to the famed island of Budelli and its pink beach, which is now off-limits after visitors repeatedly stole its rosy-hued sand. 
It is now possible that more spots on the archipelago, which lies off the northeastern tip of Sardinia, will become restricted. 
Officials and environmental scientists are warning that plant, animal and marine life is suffering due to an unsustainable number of tourists and their irresponsible behaviour. 
“We are in a full-blown emergency,” Rosanna Giudice, commissioner for the La Maddalena Archipelago National Park, told Italian news site Il Fatto Quotidiano. 
Giudice took up the role of overseeing the park at the end of July this year and is warning that the area is in a critical condition. 
“If the situation does not change, in 10 or 15 years none of this beauty will remain,” she said. 
She has called out the number of boats that crowd the coastline and the constant coming and going of water taxis that unload passengers on the shore despite prohibitions. 
Maxi yachts moored further out are destroying meadows of the marine plant Posidonia on the seabed with their anchors, she added, and noise pollution is alarming sea creatures.  
“The dolphins that used to be seen all day now stay well away from the archipelago and only appear in the morning before hell arrives,” Giudice said.
Luca Bittau, a cetologist from La Maddalena, explained that the noise from boat engines is so loud that it covers dolphins’ acoustic communications, which are essential for hunting, socialising and raising their young.
Motorboats also pose the risk of collisions with other sea creatures like turtles.
Giudice warned that the number of visitors arriving at the archipelago is unsustainable. “We need a limited number and to rethink the concessions,” she said.
She has already introduced a strict ban on night mooring. Any recreational vessels are forbidden to drop anchor in the waters around the archipelago from 9pm to 8am.
The only exception is for residents and companies that have had their registered office in La Maddalena for at least five years. 
Their boats must also be equipped with sewage collection tanks and dock at mooring buoys. 
Giudice says the ban is necessary to curb the night parties that often take place on yachts with loud music and bright lights that disturb marine life. 
The commissioner would also like to see the introduction of park rangers. At the moment, guides at reception points are tasked with reminding tourists how to behave. 
“They take care of both the beaches and the sea. They do a splendid job but they have no power to impose sanctions,” Giudice said. 
Giudice will remain in her position for six months, with the possibility of reappointment for another six after that. 
“In this time available, I will do everything to secure a socio-economic plan that is tailor-made for the park and that the issue of limiting flows is addressed,” she said.