Bulldozer on the beach, the case breaks out

Removing “stretches” of beach to transfer them elsewhere: can it be done? This is the question that more than one person is asking these days in Serapo, where a bulldozer is in action to remove sand from a dune.
Among those who denounce the fact is the councilor Franco D’Amante, who also turns the spotlight on the damage caused to the local flora, to the sea lily to be precise, «a characteristic species of protected habitats and contributes to the formation of coastal dunes therefore it is species protected by European directives”. In Gaeta, however, «at the request of a private individual, the dunes with sea lilies are excavated with large quarry vehicles with iron tracks and the sand taken is used and transported to the west «for nourishment and reshaping of the coastline». The request in question was presented on 24 April and on 3 May an authorization was issued, «in just 10 days including holidays», specifies the councilor, underlining how «reading the authorization published on the On-Line Pretorio noticeboard and looking at the graph attached to the authorization something doesn’t add up, but surely the Martone state property councilor will be able to give all the explanations”.
«As in the home garden, we move soil from one side to the other to level the ground, we can do the same with the beach»: this is how the La Barba di Giove association begins, signed by Beniamino Gallinaro. «This is the crazy logic behind the authorization granted by the municipal administration for the so-called nourishment: leveling a stretch of beach by taking sand from another stretch». As explained by the association, “the administration authorized an intervention that caused a dune to be excavated for a so-called nourishment operation that will last the space of one morning.”
«The opposition councilors did well to report the incident – concludes the association – but a fundamental player in the affair remains in the background. Serapo beach is included in the Special Conservation Area called “Rocky coast between Sperlonga and Gaeta” and this area is managed by the Ulysses Riviera Parks Management Body. Every intervention that must be carried out in an area of ​​the Special Conservation Area requires a specific authorization called Impact Assessment aimed at verifying that this intervention is in line with the conservation policies of the area. In this case, the first phase of the Impact Assessment called “Incidence Assessment Procedure in Specific Screening” which is delegated to the managing body of the Special Conservation Area, the Park Authority, should certainly have been activated at least before any intervention. . Has this procedure been activated? Doesn’t the Park Authority have anything to say about this?”