What MITECO is
MITECO is the Spanish acronym for the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge. It is the Spanish government department responsible for the environment, water, the coastline and the protection of nature.
It turns up often in texts about whale watching, almost always as an acronym and rarely explained. Behind those six letters there is a specific administration with clearly defined powers over what may and may not be done at sea.
Its name has changed over the years with successive governments. That is why you will find documents referring simply to the «Ministry for the Ecological Transition», without the Demographic Challenge part: they mean the same body.
Its role in cetacean watching
It is the ministry that grants the authorisation to watch cetaceans, known by its Spanish acronym AROC. Its legal basis is Royal Decree 1727/2007, the state rule that protects these animals from disturbance.
It also maintains the official list of authorised vessels. That list is public: anyone can check it before boarding to find out whether the boat they have booked complies with the rules.
This is not a decorative formality. The authorisation carries obligations about how to behave at sea: approach slowly, keep your distance, and never chase or harass the animals.
What it means when you sail with us
Our two sailboats, Aemón and Ayla, are authorised and appear on the state list. That is a verifiable fact, not a statement of intent.
For you it means sailing with a company that follows the rules. And those rules match what we already believed before anyone required them of us: the sea is not a stage and cetaceans do not perform on demand.
Sailing in small groups reinforces that way of working. A quiet boat disturbs less, leaves room to explain what you are seeing, and shows more respect for the environment the rule sets out to protect.
