Regeneration of salt marshes in Barbate: a project

Abstract

The Environmental Ministry of Spain has started off an initiative of recuperation of Andalucia's coastal humid zones and this project is bom from this polítical plan. In the last half century, human alterations have degraded Barbate' s salt marsh system, reducing the flow of water and consequently affecting the biodiversity of the ecosystem by the loss of the aquatic conditions it requires. The first reliable graphic document of these marshes was an 1.956 aerial photography, when human actions had not transformed almost any part of the ecosystem. This was supposed to be the natural state at the moment, that by hand was extremely collimated of sediments so it was decided as proper to bring back the salt marshes towards this state of evolution. In this sense, all the altematives proposed for the restoration are based on this photography, trying to reereate the original system by excavations and dredge of the lost tidal inlets and eradication of the physical barriers that interfere with the natural flow.