In Ponza you pay with Telepass to drop anchor

In Ponza you pay with Telepass to drop anchor

Is it fair to turn the sea into a toll highway under the guise of offering more services to boaters? The question exploded on social media after the introduction of the “Telepass Mare Ponza” app (here on Android, here for iOS), which allows people to pay via smartphone for the environmental ticket to drop anchor in the crystal-clear waters of the Latium archipelago of the Pontine islands (Ponza and Palmarola) among the most picturesque in our country.

The levy, introduced on an experimental basis last year and in effect from June 15 to Sept. 15, affects “any type of watercraft, boat or vessel” both recreational and commercial that is stationed on the two islands. Rates go up to 3 euros per linear meter with the possibility of weekly, monthly or seasonal subscriptions. There are reductions based on months, use of local moorings or environmentally friendly boats (sail or solar power only) as well as exemptions for residents, tour guides, property owners and others.

Okay, but what about services?

What does the boater get in return? Little or nothing. No buoy field or extra services. The only benefit is the right to take a 55×65 cm bag of garbage ashore in special ecological islands. And the proceeds are not even used to fund the management of a marine reserve or national park as is the case, for example, in the La Maddalena archipelago.

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The Ponza Municipality explains that the goal is “to enhance the area, harmonize the influx of tourists while respecting the environment and nature, manage waste from boats, and put in place a network of services in Ponza and Palmarola.” Shareable intentions. But the allocation of funds also reads: maintenance and upgrading of roads. At the expense of boaters?

Ponza “beautiful and impossible”

Ponza has always been a “beautiful and impossible” destination for sailors: prohibitive mooring costs, poor services, chaotic nightlife and weather hazards such as the dreaded easterly wind that often forces a forced escape from the harbor. Now even a brief stop for a dip or a rest in the roadstead becomes a fee.

The worst (threatened) risk, however, is that this system will soon spread to other Italian islands and locations. And that the sea will be gradually transformed from a common good into a series of toll booths. With the yachtsman in the increasingly obvious role of ATM.

Fabrizio Coccia