“You have a sunken treasure”: successful raising awareness of the educational community about Posidonia forests

The Oceanogràfic Foundation and the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències have presented this morning at the Real Club Náutico de Dénia the results of the Posidònia Project. An initiative that began in 2022 and has focused on the seabed of the coast of the Marina Alta. This project, financed in part by Banca March's Mediterranean Fund solidarity thematic fund, has included extensive mapping of seagrasses and an educational and informative project in the educational centers of Dénia, Xàbia, El Poble Nou de Benitatxell, Teulada Moraira and Calp.

Presentation of results by Francisco Torner

The director of the Oceanogràfic Foundation, Leocadia García-Bartual, and the project director, Francisco Torner, presented the results of the project this morning at a press conference, in which mayors and councilors of the municipalities involved participated. Torner has shown his satisfaction with the results of the project, highlighting the richness of the forest under the coast of the Marina Alta: "you have a sunken treasure."

One of the most notable results of the Posidònia Project is the increase in knowledge about Posidonia meadows among schoolchildren in the Marina Alta. This project has reached 52 teachers and 13 educational centers, covers levels from kindergarten to high school and has managed to promote a creative and transversal perspective in approaching marine biology.

This is an impact study carried out in collaboration with the University of Valencia through pre- and post-surveys of students that reveals an increase in attitudes and behaviors related to biodiversity among schoolchildren.

Nearly 2000 committed users

The launch of the Projecte Posidònia mobile application is another of the actions developed in recent months. Since its launch, in August 2022, the Projecte Posidònia App has been used by a total of 1.879 users in the Marina Alta. A figure that represents the number of people who have downloaded and used the app to find out about places where anchoring is not allowed and to learn about good environmental practices.

Illustration given to Dénia for participating in the project

During this year, the Posidònia Project team has actively promoted the use of the application among marinas, yacht clubs, hotels and tourist offices and currently has the collaboration of a dozen entities and organizations that play a fundamental role in its promotion.

Results that underline the positive impact of the Posidònia Project on environmental education and the conservation of the seabed in the Marina Alta.

Messages that unite communities

The educational initiative Missatge in a bottle of the project reached a total of 13 educational centers in Dénia and Teulada Moraira, demonstrating the joint commitment to the protection of the local marine ecosystem, involving students, and thus promoting environmental education.

An action that demonstrated how marine conservation can unite communities around the protection of the oceans and promote environmental awareness in the region.

Marine protection drawings

The project has also included a drawing contest called PosidoniArte, to which 748 drawings from educational centers in the Marina Alta were submitted.

A jury made up of representatives of the town councils, Fundación Oceanogràfic, Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències and Auditori de Teulada Moraira, evaluated the works. The dissemination campaign for these drawings was carried out both in offline and online media, with weekly publications on social networks during the months of July and August.

A conservation project for the submerged forests of the Marina Alta

The Posidònia Project represents the most complete and updated evaluation of the Marina Alta area, covering more than 7.000 hectares of seabed, the equivalent of approximately ten football fields, and covering the Almadraba area, the Natural Park Montgó and the Ifach marine space, all considered Places of Community Interest (SCI) within the Natura 2000 Network.

Added to this is the one carried out in Xàbia through the Xàbia Project of the Oceanogràfic Foundation in 2019, together providing the complete cartography of the marine spaces of La Marina Alta, approximately 10.000 hectares.

Both aim to contribute to the preservation of Posidonia meadows for marine biodiversity and promote sustainable tourism in the Marina Alta.

For the mayor of Dénia, Vicent Grimalt, the mapping works of the 'Posidònia Project' are "vital" for the conservation of the grasslands "that we have the responsibility to protect."

For Grimalt, this commitment begins "inevitably, with awareness." In this sense, the mayor remembers that in Dénia "we have been working on it for years and our beaches "They have become, little by little, an example of natural beaches where the arrival of posidonia remains is used for teaching."

The mayor has also highlighted the importance of the informative part of the Posidònia Project, since, without a doubt, "involving the little ones as has been done by the Oceanogràfic with the campaign in the schools of the region is a guarantee of a future that, “Unlike the past, respect and care for the great natural wealth that surrounds us.”