The Ornithological Group GOES

The Straits Ornithological Group (GOES) celebrated their 25th anniversary on the 3rd of August 2007. At the beginning of the 1980’s the country as a new young democracy experienced a powerful phenomenon. This was the participation of villages getting involved in different aspects of the new society, and as a result made for the foundation of many new associations.

The motivation of young committed naturalists was to improve the natural environment and they had high hopes for a promising future. Their intentions, which coincided with the youngsters in their region and the rest of the country, were to push their own region to create various associations related to defend the natural environment. The first association was GOES. Later other associations appeared like Geodes in Algeciras and Alimoche in Los Barrios.

At the start of the young association in this region GOES comprised of eight partners, two of them being the main founders of the association- Alfonso G. Carbonell and David Barros, who at the time were wild bird-ringers and later became coordinates of the bird-ringing team and also teachers to the majority of the future bird-ringers of the Group. Enrique Emberley and Jesus Parody were the first prime secretary and director for writing reports to communicate their ideas to the Grupo Balear of Ornithology GOB, and they were valued as their references.

The objective did not change during the course of time. It was for the study of birds, the phenomenal migrations, and the protection of their habitats. They dedicated a special interest to the coastal wetlands in the most vulnerable places and to showing the public the value of GOES work and how important it was to the natural environment in this region.

Another task GOES faced which is less pleasant but inevitable has been the numerous protests and reports sent to public and private organisations, who adversely developed the region and threatened the natural environment.( This also gave a sharp reminder to other members who did not support them and give them some extra strength.)

It has been very gratifying for GOES to see important relevant places for birds that used to lack the protection are actually now protected by them. Amongst those are the Estuary of the Guadiaro River, the Marshes of Palmones River and the Los Lances Beach. Other areas are still awaiting protection, like the old area of La Janda Lagoon.

Numerous other projects have been completed. They commemorated one of the first representations of the region with a reunion with the old Agencia de Medio Ambiente (Natural Environment Agents), which today is now known as the Consejería de Medio Ambiente (Council of Natural Environment). They include areas of interest for birds on official networks in protected spaces, and the protection of colonial white stork chicks in the Station of San Roque. The station company is responsible for supporting and securing the cables, keeping the posts for breeding (in the early 80’s the population of White Storks in Spain reduced), and recovering injured birds. They also consult with the ornithologists’ for advice on actual Parajes Naturales (nature spots), publishing news bulletins, and visiting schools, participating in ornithological duties and a great deal more.

On an internal level, in 1983, a year on, the bird-ringers of GOES decided to create a team of bird-ringers called Milvus-GOES. This structure has been the backbone to the group during difficult times and played an important role of cohesion in the crisis of 1987 and most recently in 2006, when Javier Espinosa the president, dedicated his time to intense mediating work.

To date they can say that Milvus-GOES has more then 90,000 ringed birds, and currently are one of the most active bird-ringing groups nation wide.
Over the years various members of GOES who are ornithologists in the association have converted their passion for their profession with excellent future perspectives.

The first headquarters used to be at schools where some of the members worked, but in 1987 they found themselves without an official headquarter. Many petitions were sent but nothing was available, but then in 2002 the Club Marítimo Linénse gave them an official headquarters for their news meetings. They would like to thank the president and members for the cooperation and hospitality.

From the first years of starting to the present day, the members have of course aged. They are not such a young association anymore, but they have bent over backwards to fight investigations and revelations, leaving behind the passionate debates with the communication mediums. They have now changed their fighting strategy to cooperation and debate, thanks to all the gathered experience provided over those unforgettable years.