*4.2. La Vela Latina*

Maritime, sports, and leisure activities are the best known aspects of identity in the region. The Latin Sail (Vela Latina) is a vessel with rigging and sails used for both professional fishing and marine sports without motor. They symbolize the knowledge and trades related to this practice. In February 2018, the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia (CARM) protected the Latin Candle as a BIC [90,91].

According to the extensive report provided by the Higher Technical School of Naval and Oceanic Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Cartagena, "Vela Latina sailing is the result of the uses and customs that involve a technical knowledge of undoubted value in the historical knowledge of navigation". The rich cultural heritage that results from this relationship between man and the environment deserves to be taken care of and conserved, especially when many of these practices are an example of sustainability, essential even for the conservation of biological diversity [92].

Villa Barnuevo, which was the first home built in the new city of Santiago de la Ribera, is an example of modernist architecture [93], which has become a center of restoration and entertainment of this sport. Although the Villa Barnuevo was declared BIC, in recent decades, its conservation status has decreased. Work is underway to complete a transformation into a study center of this art of navigation, including programming guided tours through which visitors can be informed about the history of this navigation system. Sailing with a Latin sail was inseparable from the primitive traditional and original fishing systems of the Mar Menor: the fishing weirs. This system is also practiced in the other Spanish salty lagoons, the Albudera of Valencia [94]. Therefore, the Valencian initiatives were taken as a reference, since this navigation system has also been protected since 2016. Its existing promotional initiatives, through increasing visibility of its sports activities and competitions, provide a reference for San Javier.

### **5. Conclusions**

The administrative structure in which Spanish cultural heritage is framed is structured by a network of overlapping entities that affect different territorial sectors and management levels. Thus, the state coordinates the interventions in the assets that are under its jurisdiction, which include cultural heritage sites located on the peninsular coast. In this case study, the state has particular influence on the public domain, both on land and at sea, as stipulated by the powers assigned to the Secretary of State for the Environment, which cover the coasts, the sea, and the continental waters. The regulations covering Spanish coastal heritage as public domain assets and their application with respect to San Javier have resulted in the loss of most of their bathing houses between 1990 and 2015. Similarly, according to the Commission created by the Ministry for Ecological Transition (MPTE), despite Mar Menor being environmentally protected as a wetland inscribed on the Ramsar list, included in the Natura 2000 Network, categorized as a Community of Importance (LIC) and a Special Protection Area for Birds (ZEPA), and a Specially Protected Area of Interest for the Mediterranean (ZEPIM), these efforts have been insufficient to preserve the affected area.

In conclusion, the effectiveness of preserving and managing their cultural heritage does not depend on the degree of protection granted, since, in most cases, the effectiveness is not supported by the actual results. However, this inefficiency has proven extensible to the natural environment and its heritage values. Therefore, a series of measures have been initiated to involve not only the city council but also the local community in the recovery processes [9,11,15].

The concept of citizen participation has become a basis for protection proposals and this phenomenon could affect the case study region [95]. To achieve this, we must overcome the problem of a large percentage of the population only identifying in a limited way with cultural heritage. Above all, their perception of the past could become an element of cohesion and provide a means to distinguish San Javier from other nearby regions [8,10].

In the case of San Javier, if this method has been effective for another the municipalities, it can be applied to other cities related to Mar Menor. The transformative process will affect a wider community, as the patrimonialization of their territories and common traditions, in addition to favoring the external visibility of the territory and, therefore, tourism [14,16,17], can become a fundamental basis for promoting sustainable growth based on the recovery of traditional forms of production in the lagoon.

In conclusion, the Mar Menor has a cultural heritage whose assets are unique. In accordance with the five objectives established by the UNESCO Convention of Budapest 2002 [95] for World Heritage, the community involved in this case, including the residents and the seasonal population that owns second residences in the area, must have an essential role in the discovery, valuation, and new uses of cultural heritage so that these buildings can become models of sustainable use of tourism since, through their cultural and identity potential, they provide motivation for a change in mentality about the use of the weakened natural environment. The enjoyment values of the lagoon can be increased through the use of responsible activities such as sailing sports, which eventually replace the tourism offer of the sun and the beach, and bathing houses, which contribute to lessening the impact of artificial beaches. For this, the population must be engaged in campaigns of active participation in defense of heritage, promoting associations with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) whose basic objective is heritage protection [96]. This is the aim of UNESCO through actions such as the World Heritage Volunteers Campaign 2020, and is one of the basic objectives, in accordance with the 2030 agenda, of sustainable development established by United Nations Program for Development (UNDP) since 2015, also known as the global objectives [97].

Now that we are aware of the dimension of the problem and the real situation of the natural and cultural values of the region have been analyzed, the cooperation of all the social agents involved is needed. With the basic objective of immediate action in addressing the situation and knowing that, according to UNESCO, this has led to many successful restorations [75], the support of the International Community should be requested to start the process for the inclusion of the Mar Menor as a global project for its declaration as a World Heritage Site.

**Author Contributions:** For research articles with several authors, a short paragraph specifying their individual contributions must be provided. The following statements should be used "conceptualization, M.G.M.; methodology, M.G.M.; formal analysis, M.G.M.; investigation, M.G.M.; resources, M.G.M.; data curation, 2019 M.G.M.; writing—M.G.M.; visualization M.G.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This article presents findings of the research project *Análisis del impacto de estrategias de regeneración urbana sobre la conservación del patrimonio cultural de zonas industriales históricas* (Analysis of the impact of regeneration strategies on the conservation of the cultural heritage of historic industrial areas) (HAR2014-58151-R), which was funded by the Spanish government, through the State R+D+I programme 'Orientada a los Retos de la Sociedad 2014 (Addressing the Challenges Faced by Society 2014)' and undertaken between 2015 and 2019.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The author declares no conflict of interest.
