A new ISLAND is born: a secret islet appears off the coast of Venice – and it already has a thriving ecosystem

The warm waters and sandy beaches of Venice’s lagoon have attracted tourists from all over the world for hundreds of years.

Now locals and visitors alike have a place to set up their sun loungers as a new island forms near the historic city.

Previously, the secret island of Bacan only emerged in the summer months before being swept away by winter’s storm surges.

But thanks to a new flood barrier, this beloved haven for tourist-shy residents has become a permanent part of the lagoon with its own thriving ecosystem.

The sandbank is 250 meters long and 10 meters wide and is covered with a layer of thick vegetation.

Bacan is now home to a range of swamp plants such as samphire, rushes, native flowers and small, salt-resistant cedars called tamarisk.

With new roots holding the soil in place, the island hasn’t disappeared since 2020, when flood barrier operators were on vacation during a winter surge.

But even as residents celebrate the birth of a new beach, some experts warn it could be a worrying sign for Venice’s fragile ecosystem.

In Venice’s shallow, brackish lagoon, even small disturbances in the eddy of the current can cause small islands of sand to form.

It takes so little for the tides to form a new island that residents of the area have a saying: “Palo fa palugo,” which means “a pole makes an island.”

What made Bacan unique in this ever-changing archipelago was its seasonality.

In the warmer months, when water levels dropped, Bacan rose from the water, becoming a popular spot for residents of Castello, Venice’s southernmost district, thanks to its quiet, inaccessible beaches.

Then, in winter, when the waves that so often flood the city arrive, the island is simply washed away.

However, the islet has remained resolutely above the waves for the past four years.

According to Giovanni Cecconi, an engineer from the Università Ca’ Foscari in Venice, the island’s stability is a byproduct of the MOSE flood barrier that has been protecting the city since 2020.

The MOSE barrier, which Mr Cecconi worked on, is a series of mobile gates that rise during winter waves to separate Venice from the Adriatic Sea.

Venice has always experienced flooding when strong Sirocco winds combined with high tides to raise water levels above the city’s streets.

However, in recent years these periodic floods appear to be becoming more frequent and more severe.

In 2019, one of the worst floods ever submerged 80 percent of the city, while sea levels rose 1.8 meters higher than normal.

The MOSE barrier helps prevent these floods by temporarily closing the lagoon from the Adriatic Sea when large waves are forecast.

A side effect, however, is that these powerful tides no longer wash away Bacan’s sand.

Mr Cecconi told it The times: ‘By raising the barrier in winter to prevent high tides, the island is protected against the waves that used to erode it.

The island’s location may also explain why it has grown so much since MOSE was implemented.

Located opposite one of the three lagoon entrances equipped with water barriers, Bacan can benefit from increased currents during the summer months.

Mr Cecconi says: ‘The barrier… speeds up the flow of water into the lagoon when it is open, meaning more sand comes in, helping to maintain Bacan.’

And as the island becomes populated by vegetation, the soil will become further stabilized, making it more likely to survive future erosion.

“It is a new ecosystem and shows that the lagoon can develop in a positive way, in parallel with human intervention,” Cecconi adds.

However, not every expert is convinced by Mr Cecconi’s explanation.

Professor Adrea D’Alpos, an expert on coastal evolution from the University of Padua, told MailOnline that it is a mistake to attribute the formation of Bacan entirely to MOSE closures.

He says: ‘The development of this narrow strip of sand and mud, now colonized by vegetation, is mainly the result of several overlapping processes operating at different spatial and temporal scales.’

Furthermore, Professor D’Alpos points out that Bacan’s formation actually began long before the first MOSE activation in October 2020.

This means that the flood defenses around the city are probably only part of a larger and more complex whole.

Professor D’Alpos is also not convinced that Bacan will become a year-round beach spot for future generations of Venetians.

He says: ‘I wouldn’t describe it as permanent. Although the islet is currently growing and its location is now above sea level, its long-term survival remains uncertain.’

Crucially, Professor D’Alpos also argues that the development of a fast-growing ecosystem on Bacan is not necessarily a sign that nature is recovering.

While the MOSE flood barrier is indispensable to Venice’s survival, it also has a profound effect on the environment.

Most importantly, by preventing high tides from washing over the land, the barrier ensures that sediment is not transported into the salt marshes around the city.

‘While MOSE activations are essential for protecting Venice from high tides, they dramatically reduce tidal peaks during storm surges and significantly limit the extent and duration of salt marsh flooding,’ says Professor D’Alpos.

‘This in turn reduces sediment deposition on the marshes, threatening their long-term survival.’

Research has shown that Venice’s salt marshes owe 70 percent of their growth to these winter storm surges.

Venice’s salt marshes have been slowly disappearing for centuries, partly due to historical mismanagement of the waterways dating back to the 16th century, when water from the lagoon was diverted.

Because salt marshes absorb thirty times as much CO2 as forests, their disappearance would be a major problem for the planet.

And since the salt marshes buffer the impact of storm surges and reduce flooding, anything that limits their size will also be a major problem for Venice itself.

So while the new life on Bacan may be good news for beachgoers, it could also be a sign of some worrying changes to come.