Through the project and cleaning of local ports on the islands of Olib, Silba and Ist, the removal of waste and the education of islanders about the dangers of waste in the sea were approached. The ports on these islands are of great importance to the local population. The amounts of waste in them are noticeable, mostly due to their position because of which they are open to winds. These ports are also important for nature conservation as they are located in areas that are part of the Natura 2000 ecological network (HR3000053 Silba – submarine; HR3000052 Olib – submarine; HR3000063 Passage between Zapuntel and Ist). Areas such as ports can unfortunately become waste sources themselves.
Many years of research and educational experience, have taught us that the most important part of starting a project is identifying problems and working with the local community. By talking to locals and visitors, we noticed that lack of awareness and insufficient knowledge about the importance of the sea, marine organisms, marine protected areas and ecosystems represent a big problem, for people locally, but also globally. In such environments, the sea is the basis of life, so responsibility for the “coexistence” of man and the sea is extremely necessary. In order for this “cooperation” to be long, high quality and sustainable, it is necessary to bring man closer to the sea, but at the level of respect that the marine environment and the sea, as a key part of everyday life, deserve to be known, protected, preserved and used sustainably.
Through the actions of cleaning the seabed of the ports on these three islands, we removed the waste in the seabed. Numerous islanders and visitors wanted to join the cleaning actions so we organized cleaning actions for the beaches and the mainland that surround the harbors for them to participate in. The actions took place in the port of Mul on Silba, the sports port on Olib and in the area of local ports in the bays of Kosirača and Široka on Ist.
The education of the islanders and visitors was carried out through the already traditional photo exhibition, which has already been successfully set up on Silba twice, and through this project we expanded it and set it up again on Silba and for the first time on Olib and Ist. Given that there is often a lack of content for locals and visitors on these small islands, everyone enthusiastically accepted this new educational content and watched the photos as well as read the accompanying stories. We encouraged visitors to think about their waste habits and the amount of plastic they create. We have also linked all the threats posed by waste to the always attractive other biological and environmental issues – protection, conservation, conservation and marine protected areas. The pleasant suggestive atmosphere of the park on the islands fit perfectly into this exhibition and we felt extremely welcome! All of the visitors encouraged us to return next year, and the entire exhibition took place in compliance with the epidemiological measures currently in force in the open air on the islands:
Find out more about how we felt on each of the islands by clicking on the island that takes you to a more detailed article:
The project is fully completed by providing permanent educational tools to islanders and their visitors in the form of educational – information boards. Each island received one personalized board that- in Croatian and English- presents to everyone the basic facts and concepts about waste in the sea. We put up the boards on each of the islands along with members of the local community!
Great help and support in the implementation of the project was provided by formal partners in the project Youth Association Ista ( Udruga mladih Ista), Association Mavena with the artistic organization Silba Enviroment Art and the Association SOL (Udruga SOL), as well as local committees and other valuable representatives of local communities.
This project is part of the Society’s 20000 leagues initiative “TOGETHER AGAINST MARINE LITTER”.
The project “Together against amrine litter – Clean ports, clean sea!” was implemented with the financial support of the Fund for Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency.
Let’s protect the environment together – co-financed by the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund.
Project leader: mag. oecol. et prot. nat. Barbara Čolić
Project code: 2020/002497
Project duration : 1/7/20 – 15/4/21
Funds: 75.000,00 HRK
Source of funding: Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund (80%)
The content of this program is the sole responsibility of the Society 20,000 leagues and under no circumstances can it be considered as a reflection of the position of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund
Marine Explorers Society 20.000 leagues gathers ambitious, comprehensive and creative researchers whose primary interest is marine biology. Members of the Society have wide and professional experience in organizing and carrying out various projects.
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