Ecologists have been warning for years that the Mar Menor (Lesser Sea) is gradually perishing because of heavy runoff of fertilizer nitrates from nearby farmland. Nitrates in excess amounts can accelerate eutrophication, causing dramatic increases in aquatic plant growth, which in turn affects dissolved oxygen, causing fish to die in large numbers. In fact millions of dead fish and crustaceans have began to wash up on the lagoon's shores.

Now, lawmakers in Spain have voted to award the legal status of a person to the endangered saltwater lagoon. This means that any citizen is now able now appeal to the judiciary in the case of a suspected violation against the lagoon.