Since some years Mediterranean salinas have been defended by nature and cultural conservationists, for the simple reason that they are unique for their landscape and wetland values, as well as for making part of the cultural heritage of the Basin. In this respect, some salinas, once degraded or fallen into ruin, were recently upgraded, restored and rehabilitated. The raising interest about them was expressed through symposia and workshops by scientists (historians, ethnologists, ecologists), managers and owners, local developers. All agree with sustainable development and wise use of salinas, where salt-making is combined with soft tourism. In addition, there have been some Mediterranean initiatives aiming mainly at raising awareness and networking on the study and conservation of the salinas. Such initiatives are the Salt Routes of UNESCO, the current ALAS project financed by the European Commission, and the recent MedWet/Com4 Technical Session.

The Salt Routes was a splendid idea arisen from the Paris workshop in April 1997 (DG XI- INSULA, UNESCO). It was followed by the currently running ALAS (All About Salt) ECOS-OUVERTURE project (1999-2002), the first Mediterranean collaboration initiative between salinas: of Lesvos (Greece), Figueira da Foz (Portugal), Piran (Slovenia), and Pomorie (Bulgaria). The recent MedWet/Com4 Technical Session (Sesimbra, May 2001) recognizes the importance of ecological, cultural, historic, landscape, educational and touristic values of the Mediterranean salinas, the pressures and threats they are currently facing, and proposes a set of recommendations for their conservation.

Salinas of the Mediterranean and their History

The Mediterranean salinas are usually coastal and man-made. Seawater evaporates in a succession of shallow ponds, the salt is finally collected or harvested for domestic and industrial use. Since the eve of civilization, and due to the diversity of technical solutions, a rich terminology has developed: saltpans, salterns, salt-gardens, salinas, salines, saltworks.

The Mediterranean climate is ideal for salt making. Although a generous gift of nature, salt has been artificially produced as early as 641 BC in the first salt-gardens of Ostia (Rome). Already then, later even more, salt has been an expensive commodity for the Mediterranean, as well as the world beyond this region. The evolution of salt-making techniques came to a standstill with the method of successive evaporation basins, introduced into the Mediterranean by the Arabs in the early Middle Ages. The basics of this technique remain unchanged until today. First, the compartments (pre-basin, evaporation ponds of low, medium, and high salinity, crystallizers), all connected and separated by canals, gates, sluices, dikes, bridges, aqueducts. Second, the process that differs only as to the harvest rate varying from few (continuous crystallization) to many harvests per period (periodical crystallization).

According to the size, the variety of methodology for salt-making employed, as well as other characteristics, the following types of Mediterranean salinas are distinguished:

1. primitive or artisanal salinas, in which salt is gained with little or no human intervention, mainly collected from nature (e.g. rocky coasts, closed lagoons etc).
2. traditional salinas, comprising small compartments and crystallizers that can be efficiently operated by one or two persons. They are characterized by intense human presence in all stages of salt-making.
3. semi-industrial salinas (rather saltworks), with relatively large compartments and crystallizers. They are still characterized by involvement of man and are manually operated at least for salt harvest.
4. fully mechanized huge industrial saltworks, with almost no manual operation, that are extremely large and economically profitable.

Since the ancient times, hundreds of salinas have operated in the Mediterranean. Considering only the non-primitive coastal ones, ca. 170 of them are recognizable today: 90 are still working, whereas the rest are inactive or transformed. Of the 90 active salinas, 77% are located in the northern, European coast, the rest in Turkey, Tunisia, Algeria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt and Morocco. Their surface may vary from 1 ha to 12,000 ha. Largely created from areas of natural saltmarsh, they have developed into areas of major importance not only for the ca. 7 million tons of salt produced per year, but also for historical, cultural and ecological reasons.

Economical and historical value

Mediterranean salinas are recognized among the most important non-polluting industrial activities of the area. Their importance has been more pronounced in the past, when salt was a vital commodity, at least for food preservation, and played a key role throughout history, providing political power to those who controlled its production and trade. The first Salt Routes, through which salt was traded, were probably those of the Protocycladic II period, in early Bronze Age, later the Phoenician ones. Amongst the most known, the terrestrial viae salariae of the Romans, and the marine ones by Venetians and Genoese, justify the metaphor white gold referring to the economic importance of this commodity, the renowned "edible money" of Cassiodorus. Indeed, for many centuries, states, churches, cities, as well as families acquired power and wealth from producing, trading or simply taxing monopolized salt (the roman annona, the byzantine kommerkion, the arab al-quabala, the french gabelle). It is because of its economic importance that salt makes still part of today’s monthly payments, at least as a relict in some European languages (salarium, salary).

Cultural value

Based on the same basic technique, many varieties of salt-making adapted to the particularities of geology, the vicissitudes of climate, the anthropological temptations, challenged the Mediterraneans to develop a diversity of devices and tame wind and waves for letting salinas be white. The immense quantity of human energy invested resulted not only to a simple commodity, but also to everlasting cultural features: the saline landscape of the Mediterranean, comprising architectural and technical achievements (devices, equipment, tools, techniques), as well as social aspects such as the salter’s life style and manners (materials, housing etc.). Yet, the salt, basic seasoning and food preservative, served as the vehicle for the tastes of the European history of gastronomy since the ancient times: from ÄÁÊÔÒ (gr.) to garum (lt), salcicia (lt) to sausages, salsa (it.) to sauce, insalata (it.) to salad, salsamenta (lt) and salgama (lt), salted herring. Inside the ancient Greek salt cellars, the Roman salina (sing. salinum), the byzantine alatika, and the Italian saliere, salt has always had a special place on the table, and a prominent position in the famous museums. As a profession, it accompanied many people through life: salters, salgamarii, salt transporters and traders, salt guides, tax officers and smugglers. Although notorious, its symbolic significance for human behaviour, customs, religion, mythology, legends and superstitions is, therefore, quite understandable.

Ecological value

There are several reasons for qualifying salinas as important wetland sites, and interesting from the viewpoint of nature conservation:

First, because of the special biodiversity they host. This is due to the hypersaline character of the saline basins, one of the harshest wetland habitats. Very few organisms can stand the inhospitable environments of these saline deserts, where, however, they can grow into extremely large populations due to lack of competitors. This is why Artemia, the brine shrimp, can grow at incredibly high numbers in the saltpans, providing other consumers with ideal conditions for feeding by filtration such as flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) and avocets (Recurvirostra avosetta).

Second, because salinas are biologically rich despite being artificial habitats. This is due partly to the fact that as man-managed they are kept constantly under water, which makes them ecologically invaluable during the dry summer. In winter, however, their ecological value may decline the pools are left without water. Their biological richness is also due to the wetland mosaic consisting of a combination of basins of a wide salinity gradient, providing diverse niche possibilities to species of different tolerance. In addition, salinas contain a number of relatively undisturbed aquatic and terrestrial habitats that make them vital for the conservation of waterbirds.

Third, because many salinas constitute the only functioning wetlands among extremely dry areas such as islands and extended Mediterranean archipelagoes.

The Mediterranean salinas are artificial idiosyncratic wetland systems, characterized by:

• - the presence of equally uncommon species: salinity tolerant unicellular organisms, some of them interfering with the quality of salt produced (Aphanotheca, Dunaliella salina, Halobacterium);
• - an interesting halophilous flora, aquatic and terrestrial, the latter pollinated by a specialized wasp fauna;
• - quite diverse salinity tolerant aquatic invertebrates, few fish genera;
• - a considerably high diversity of waterbirds using the salinas for breeding (often in large colonies) or as wintering and refueling sites during their transcontinental stopovers.

Is the ecological value of a salina size-related? To put it otherwise, are small salinas inferior than large ones? The answer cannot be simply yes or no. This is because on the one hand, large salinas are endowed with unique ecological characteristics, whereas small ones are sometimes unique within extended, dry areas. This makes the latter invaluable from the viewpoint of nature conservation. In addition, ensuring water circulation in them throughout the year is less complicated compared to managing the large ones.

Mediterranean salinas are today facing many pressures and threats due to change of social values and economic stresses, notably:

1. conversion from low intensity to mechanized production. Worst is the transformation to high salinity brining salinas of almost no biological value.
2. abandonment or conversion to other uses such as ports and airports, aquaculture and rice farms, industrial, urban or tourist zones.

These impacts affect the salinas’ role as a cultural landscape and the coexistence of sustainable salt production and biodiversity. Landscape quality may be additionally affected by occasional pollution events, marine (e.g. oil accidents) or terrestrial (wastes, sewage).

The fragile socioeconomic balance is linked to a market that is subject to competition from cheaper land-produced salt and the world trade. Faced with the need to be economically viable, Mediterranean salinas are confronted with the choice of closing, industrializing the production, or finding a niche market for quality salt that gives higher market returns. Where salinas close, this leads to a significant loss of their biodiversity. In the cases of transformation into other farming use, they definitely loose their ecological values. The current trend to cease, or consolidate, salt production in many parts of the Mediterranean has created many inactive and intermittently exploited salinas with buildings and hydrological infrastructures falling into ruin. This is exacerbated by competition for space along the Mediterranean coastline for urbanization, industry, and tourism, especially on the northern edge where the largest number of dormant salinas is found.

Experiencing on conservation and public awareness

The friends of Mediterranean salinas can share common interests with two important current initiatives:

1. The ALAS project, with ambitious objectives to be achieved through active networking:
   • Development of specific local concepts on the production and use of traditional salt to maintain/create jobs, and conservation of the salinas cultural and natural heritage as an important factor of regional development;
   • Enhance the wetland values of the salinas through drafting and implementing ecological management plans;
   • Conserve small salinas through promoting and marketing traditionally produced salt as a high-quality product (economic study, labeling, setting-up co-operative structures);
   • Conservation of the salinas heritage through compilation of knowledge on traditional salt production and related cultural heritage, together with preparation of guidelines and execution of pilot projects on re-establishing/upgrading/operating traditional salinas including training of qualified salters;
   • Establishing or improving salt-museums for raising awareness on cultural and natural heritage of salinas;
   • Experimenting to use the cultural and natural heritage of salinas and traditional salt for additional quality tourism.
2. The initiative of the recent MedWet/Com4 Technical Session. Among the substantial conclusions on the future action for the "wise use of salinas", it encourages MedWet/Com members to support existing networks and programs on the conservation of salinas, and it recommends:
   • the establishment of a multi-sectoral MedWet Salinas Working Group, with responsibility to report to Ramsar COP8 on the status and trends of Mediterranean salinas;
   • include salinas and salt into the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment;
   • promote awareness and a multi-sectoral "wise use of salinas" network in collaboration with relevant existing sites and project networks such as ALAS.

Theodora PETANIDOU

University of the Aegean
Department of Geography
E-mail: t.petanidou@aegean.gr