This morning, the captain-director of Marina Dénia, Gabriel Martínez, the Councilor for the Environment of the Dénia City Council, Alexandra Gertrúdix, the biologist of Natural Parks and the Marine Reserves of the Valencian Community, Vicent Castañer and the person in charge of the Cabo de San Antonio Marine Reserve, Toni Martínez, They have met in Marina Dénia to report that they have managed to remove four specimens of nacra. Pinna nobilis or nacra is a giant bivalve, endemic to the Mediterranean and is a species listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Since a parasite affected the nacra's diet in 2016, "practically the entire population ended up dying. Only one population remains alive, which is within the Alfaques Bay (Ebro Delta) and another in the Mar Menor. Two areas that are considered sanctuaries for this species, but that have many problems to be maintained," said Vicent Castañer. The monitoring is part of the collaboration in two international conservation projects. On the one hand, the pan-Mediterranean Network of nacra larvae collectors, in which more than 40 entities from eight countries throughout the Mediterranean participate and is coordinated by the CSIC-IATS and IMEDEA. This network is installing collectors to try to capture and protect the nacras and understand their dispersion capacity. On the other hand, the Life Pinnarca project, coordinated by the Environment and Marine Science Research Institute of the Catholic University of Valencia (IMEDMAR-UCV), which is in Calpe, where, in addition, the recruited juvenile specimens are transferred and They study methods to reproduce it in captivity. The collectors managed by this team are installed in four protected natural areas of the Valencian Community: Cabo de San Antonio, Sierra de Irta, Prat de Cabanes-Torreblanca and Serra Gelada.
