The Venice wave motion saga

wave motion

The awareness that the wave motion is a problem for Venice it is now something acquired for many years. Or it should be.

The UNESCO Management Plan 2012-2018 states that « the phenomenon of wave motion is mainly attributable to the considerable increase in motorboat traffic. The destructive effects on the environment are triggered by the power of the engines, the speed of the boats and by the hydrodynamic characteristics of the hulls of boats »

http://www.veniceandlagoon.net/web/en/management_plan/macro_emergencies/wave_motion/

But the inhabitants of Venice started to worry many decades before that. In 1974, the first Vogalonga, the famous regatta, took place in the Venice lagoon to alert on the pollution, the degradation and the danger of wave motion. Once a year, the Vogalonga attracts a large crowd of Venetians but doesn’t seem to have the right impact.

For this reason, a group of 36 rowing and sailing associations in the Venice Lagoon have decided to take action.

As wee can read in their appeal:

« This need ( to take action) arises not only from wanting to safeguard the right to practice our sports, but because our point of privileged observation allows us to see, regardless of economic and partisan interests, the destructive phenomena that grip the city and the Lagoon: not only the waves but also the atmospheric and acoustic pollution and the risks connected to unregulated traffic ».

To maintain public attention, they will organize outdoor and cultural events on a monthly bases