A Spanish city famous for its beaches and Mediterranean coast has announced strict new rules to keep the ocean clean, but one rule in particular is attracting attention.
Marbella is proposing to impose fines of 750 euros ($1,200) on anyone caught urinating off the coast of 25 beaches in the city of Malaga.
“Period evacuations” are considered anti-social behaviour. The previous fine was 300 euros ($480), but it is unclear whether anyone has actually paid it.
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Marbella is famous for its beaches and Mediterranean coast. (Getty)
The proposal has been met with scorn from some holidaymakers, with The Telegraph reporting one beachgoer as telling Spanish programme En Boca de Todos: “A jellyfish is the one that notices when someone is peeing?”
Another added: “This is nonsense and stupidity so let them worry about other things.”
20 Minutes also reported that “urinating in the ocean is one of the most widespread habits in the country.”
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The proposed fines are still to be discussed through public hearings. Other measures include banning dogs from the ocean, banning ball games in the water, preventing beachgoers from securing spots on the sand with umbrellas, and imposing fines on people who litter the beach with cigarette butts or food waste.
Marbella is not the first Spanish seaside resort to impose a strict ban on bathers relieving themselves in the waves: Vigo in Galicia has also introduced fines of 750 euros ($1,200) from 2022.
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The previous fine was 300 euros ($480). (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Other cities are also cracking down on beach behavior.
The popular Spanish resort town of Benidorm recently warned that tourists could be fined up to 1,200 euros ($1,900) if they swim between midnight and 7 a.m. There will also be fines for sleeping on the beach during those hours, as well as a host of other unsavory behaviour, including smoking on the beach, swimming when the red flag is flying and building large sand sculptures, the Mirror reports.
Portugal also has strict rules, with beachgoers bringing portable speakers facing fines of up to 36,000 euros ($58,000), and tourists are banned from stepping on or taking sand from Sardinia’s famous Spiaggia Rosa beach, with fines of up to 3,500 euros ($5,600) for any violations.
Greece will also declare 70 percent of its beaches free of sunbeds, rising to 85 percent in protected areas, and some beaches will be designated “untouchable”, meaning they cannot have any sunbeds at all.
This story originally appeared on Stuff.co.nz and has been reproduced here with permission.
