Perhaps you will read this on your way to the beach, or sunbathing on the sand. For me, the beach transports me to childhood; that's why I like it so much. I learned French at El Golfet, making friends with the grandchildren of my grandparents' friends. My grandmother loved to practice the language on the sand and looked for any excuse to socialize with French retirees rather than Catalans. I believe she always thought that France was a civilized country, a refuge to escape to if the dictatorship returned. Walking down the coastal path, looking for shellfish on the rocks, and jumping over the waves before retracing the uphill path was my life. Now I go there to play paddleball, to read, or simply to listen to the waves so I don't hear anything else.For urban planners, the beach is a magical place. In the city it is very difficult, and it is becoming increasingly difficult, to mix people. Everyone tends to move where they feel comfortable with their tribe, and with the polarization between the rich and the rest of urbanites, urban boundaries are expanding. But the beach is different, and that fascinates me.Each beach is a world. I choose them according to how much I want to keep my distance. In Castelldefels and Gavà, you can sit by the sea, on a kind of natural step carved by the waves, which allows you to place the book on your lap and read without back pain, while you dip your feet in the salty foam. In Barceloneta or Vila Olímpica, you can get there by metro, which is a luxury within reach of very few seaside environments. In Maresme, you can travel along the beaches by train, with no more interference than a nautical club or a beach bar. And in the coves of Empordà, you can sacrifice towel space for a rocky scenery, with steep reds and green pine forests, which invite you to swim along the rocks without losing proximity to the mainland. You can be packed in like anchovies, but you go into the water and you can see fish and seaweed with cheap glasses.

“The beaches, which should be a place of tranquility, have been transformed into a space where you have to keep an eye on mobile phones and try to guess if a person is using it to look at Instagram or if they are actually taking photos or videos of your children,” explains Laura Ferrer, a specialist in conscious and emotional sexual education for children, youth, and adults. The widespread presence of mobile phones, cameras, and social networks has changed the way many families experience children's swimming in public spaces like the beach. What a few decades ago could be experienced with more naturalness – small naked children playing in the sand or entering and leaving the water – today coexists with a new concern: what if someone photographs or records the child without permission? And where could that image end up? Ferrer's practice is increasingly receiving families who have suffered or are suffering unpleasant situations on the beach and who live in fear of the non-consensual dissemination of images of their children. “It’s not paranoia, it’s real, it’s happening and it’s very sad. We are moving to ensuring that our privacy is not stolen from the sand,” warns Ferrer. According to the therapist, these concerns have reached her from families she works with from various parts of Catalonia, Galicia, and northern Spain. Children's privacy, more exposed

Although there is no comparable data to measure the extent to which this habit has changed, many families and professionals perceive a change in the way childhood is lived in public spaces. “A daily photograph that may seem innocent at first glance – for example, at the beach, in a bikini or swimsuit – can end up being reused with artificial intelligence tools or circulating in criminal environments for the exchange of child sexual abuse images,” warns Irene Montiel, professor of Law and Political Science at the Open University of Catalonia and researcher at the VICRIM group. The current regulations on data protection do not establish specific regulations for spaces such as beaches or swimming pools, but rather apply the general framework on the right to one's own image, privacy, and data protection. There are situations in which a person may appear incidentally in a photograph taken in a public space, but the general principle is that the capture and, above all, the dissemination of identifiable images require special caution, even more so when minors are involved. “In the case of minors, it would not be permitted to photograph them, as the aim is precisely to protect their image and privacy. Since these are public spaces, we must be aware that people may appear in our photographs at any time, but the general principle is that no one should be able to take a photo of someone else without authorization,” explains Francisco Pérez Bes, deputy of the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD). In the case of minors under fourteen years of age, if a photo is to be taken of them, authorization must always be given by parents or legal guardians.More eyes: when it's no longer just the mobile phone recording

But the challenge, adds Pérez Bes, is no longer just mobile phones. “There are increasingly more devices with a conventional appearance that can be used for recording. For example, smart sunglasses that incorporate photographic and video cameras. This threatens our right to privacy and makes it increasingly difficult to identify whether we are being recorded or not,” he warns. For Ferrer, the debate should not fall solely on families, but also on how we protect shared spaces. “Perhaps we will have to start implementing mobile-free beaches, as is already done in some nightclubs, to regain freedom and avoid digital exposure,” he suggests. The line between protecting and scaring

Faced with this situation, many families opt to put swimsuits or some piece of clothing on children. “Families cover them with sun protection clothing, using it as a shield so they are not so exposed to a sexualizing gaze. But, of course, the internal moral dilemma as parents is there: ‘I want my son to be able to go naked, calm and relaxed, but at the same time I am teaching him that his body is not to be shown’,” reflects Ferrer. For his part, Montiel considers that measures must be taken and the most vulnerable protected by setting limits if necessary: “Thirty years ago it was not common to see so many mobile phones or electronic devices and we did not feel so exposed. Now, anyone can take a photo or record a video without you noticing. We have to have a little more awareness and set limits, we should not fall into collective panic, but we must transmit values of care and respect for our own body”.Ferrer recommends looking for less crowded beaches and quiet spaces and, if nudism aligns with family values, opting for contexts where this practice is lived more naturally. Precisely, recent information on nudism in Catalonia suggests that the naturist collective perceives a reduction in the practice and links it, among other factors, to shame and fear of exposure on social media. "Any public space can be a risk context, considering that there are people looking for this type of images. It's not about living in fear but about being aware of it," explains Montiel, also a professor in the criminology degree at the UOC.

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Between Banyuls and Portvendres, in the Roussillon, there is a coast that has lived for more than a century with its back to tourism. The Costa Vermella, the continuation of the Costa Brava towards Northern Catalonia, displays one of its most well-preserved landscapes. There are no second homes, nor sports ports. But rather a protected area on the seafront and vineyards that merge with the water. It is the bay of Paulilles, a collection of beaches saved from the tourist massification of the 60s and 70s thanks to dynamite.

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What will the beaches of the future be like? More importantly, will there be beaches at all? With these two powerful reflections, the Catalan Infrastructure Advisory Council (CAdIC) wanted to put on the table this Wednesday the "urgent" need to plan the management of sand on the Catalan coast to prevent beaches from disappearing.

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Some prefer to swim in the pool, others in the sea, but whether you're a freshwater or saltwater swimmer, keep in mind that you run an invisible risk: infections from pathogens that live in the water. In the case of seawater, beach flags are a good ally to also check the health of the water. "Sometimes there's a red flag, and people see that the water is flat, clear, and jellyfish-free, and they ignore the warning. In these cases, it's probably due to the state of the water," says the doctor at the Sant Joan de Déu Montserrat Sanmartí Hospital health park.

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Go to the beach, swim in the sea, and, upon exiting the water, ask yourself the following question: Should you remove excess salt from your skin before drying, or is it better to leave it? Dr. Alfonso María del Pozo Carrascosa, professor in the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Barcelona, ​​​​has a clear answer to this summer dilemma. It is highly recommended to remove the salt immediately after exiting the water.

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"We are facing an exceptionally bad year," admit sources from Catalan Civil Protection regarding mortality on Catalan beaches. This beginning of 2025 has seen the highest number of drownings in the last decade, with 25 fatalities on the Catalan coast as of Thursday, four more than last year and almost double the number recorded ten years ago in the same period. The latest victims are two children, aged 11 and 13, who drowned Tuesday night while swimming at Larga beach in Salou, Tarragonès. The children were British brothers, and their father, who also entered the water to rescue them, was rescued by the Emergency Services.

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Seven people have drowned on Catalan beaches since the summer season began on June 15. That's seven deaths in two weeks, an average of one every two days. "It's not the worst figure in history, but it is one of the worst," Sergio Delgado, deputy director of Civil Protection programs for the Catalan government, told ARA. A year ago, five deaths were recorded in June, and the summer season (which ends on September 15) It ended with 17 fatalities at sea. We are, therefore, above the records of the previous year, and Delgado links this directly to the high temperatures, which cause people to go to the coast more.

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In Catalonia, there are several beaches along the coast where, year-round, bathing and towel-laying are prohibited. These are very specific areas, with special nature reserve protection, such as the Ebro Delta or the Llobregat Delta. There, no matter how good the weather is, human presence is restricted to promote biodiversity conservation. This summer, for the first time, Can Comas beach, between Sant Pere Pescador and Empuriabrava, right in front of the Wetlands of the Empordà.

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It's not even 12 noon, and the thermometer is already reading 25 degrees in many parts of Barcelona. "It feels like August 15th," says an elderly woman, sitting on the terrace of one of the first beach bars. from the Barceloneta promenade. She says this while looking at the beach, which, even though it's the end of May, is packed to the rafters. However, the difference with any August day is that today the vast majority of those who wanted to inaugurate the first beach day of the year are Barcelona residents, rather than tourists, who also lie on the sand, some with reddish skin, revealing that today has not been their first day of wallowing on Barcelona's beaches.

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The Generalitat (Catalan Government) has decided that the increase in the tax on stays in tourist establishments (the "tourist tax"), agreed upon by the PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) and the Comuneros (Commonwealth Party), will be processed as a bill. The ERC (Spanish Workers' Party) demanded this in order to introduce amendments, arguing that the bill treated sun and beach tourism like that of Barcelona, ​​when the reality is very different. This is true, but what is not so clear is what our sun and beach tourism needs. I will try to answer this question.

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Two sunbeds and a parasol for €25 for the morning or afternoon, or €50 for the whole day; plus a supplement of between €3 and €5 if you are in the front row, or €20 if you want a towel. These are the prices offered at the Aiguablava cove in Begur for those who want to enjoy one of the forty sunloungers on the sand. The City Council put out a public tender in early 2021 to hand over the management of this service until 2024, but the area they occupy on the sand has attracted complaints from bathers. "Every day it's the same: you couldn't squeeze anyone else on the sand because the sunbeds take up most of the available space. They have privatised part of the beach!" Sandra and Manel, a couple from Manresa who have a second home in Begur, complain. On the other hand, the City Council makes a "very positive" assessment of the service: "It is a cove with high demand and under severe tourist pressure, and this is a way to control access and avoid crowds", Tourism councillor Eugeni Pibernat emphasises.

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Lima, a three year old cross between a warren hound and a pinscher, sits on the sand looking at the sea in Castelló d'Empúries. What must she think this brief moment when she stops playing and running? Her owner, Nicky, comes closer and caresses her. The two often come here because, living in Roses, it is close by. These 400 metres of Rubina are, in fact, one of the few places on the Catalan coast where dogs are allowed to swim. Moreover, they are allowed all year round and without restrictions, which does not happen in the rest of the beaches that accept dogs. Each one is governed by its own regulations according to municipal regulations.

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