The plenary meeting of Tenerife’s Cabildo took place last Friday, September 27, where it was announced that the president has instructed the Environmental Assessment Commission of Tenerife (CEAT) to initiate the environmental review of the private initiative known as Underwater Garden, which is considered a Project of Insular Interest. The corporation clarified this on Monday, stating that the aim is to establish “on-land complementary, non-accommodative, and structuring tourist facilities, featuring a regenerative park that will provide both visitors and locals with unique opportunities to engage with the sea and nature, through recreation, sport, science, art, and entertainment, all connected to the regeneration of the seabed and its ecosystems.”
The park is planned to be situated in the municipality of Guía de Isora.
Alicia Leirachá, insular director of Strategic Projects, expressed that “the encouragement of initiatives of this nature allows us to advocate for a tourism model that centres around the principle of sustainability, viewed from various aspects: social, environmental, and economic.”
Leirachá praised her team’s efforts to “accelerate and promote” the establishment of these insular interest projects for Tenerife, concluding that “in this term, we are dedicated to prioritising and speeding up the processing of strategic projects that will foster the sustainable development, both economically and socially, as well as in health and territory, for Tenerife, ensuring they receive final approval before the end of this term.”
The coastline of Guía de Isora is classified as a Special Conservation Area (ZEC) under the EU Habitats Directive because it supports species that are in a “critical” condition, such as the bottlenose dolphin and the loggerhead turtle. In January 2021, the World Cetacean Alliance, based in the UK, acknowledged the zone stretching between the southwest coast of Teide and La Gomera as a Whale Heritage Site due to its resident population of pilot whales, which is uniquely significant, consisting of around 200 individuals. It stands as the only Whale Sanctuary in the European Union and the third globally.
Seabirds such as ospreys, Cory’s shearwaters, and common terns, alongside dolphins, various invertebrates like brain sponges, and a vast array of algae and other species, create a “spectacular” ecosystem known for its exceptional biodiversity, thus referred to scientifically as the “Serengeti of the pilot whales.” At least 74 protected marine species have been documented within the Teno-Rasca SAC. The area boasts one of the largest known colonies of short-finned pilot whales globally, according to Natacha Aguilar, a researcher in the Department of Animal Biology at the University of La Laguna (ULL).
These waters have been the centre of contention regarding the Fonsalía Port construction project, which was planned to be developed on a small coastal segment excluded from environmental protection. This proposal was shelved during the previous legislative session in the Canary Islands Parliament, but at the outset of the current one, the president of the Tenerife Port Authority expressed a wish to revive it.
