From the Biodiversity Foundation we have launched an ambitious environmental awareness and education program within the framework of the MISTIC SEAS 2 project. These activities have begun at the International Fair of the Sea (FIMAR 2018) with the seminar “Join conservation”. This meeting aimed to make visible the importance of the project in the study and monitoring of the state of marine biodiversity in Macaronesia (Canary Islands, Azores and Madeira). In addition, some of the species of birds, cetaceans and sea turtles present in this region have been made known, their main threats and their effects. On the other hand, the role that citizens and users of the sea can play in the conservation of the marine environment has been addressed.

The MISTIC SEAS 2 project, of which the Biodiversity Foundation and the Directorate-General for Sustainability of the Coast and Sea of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment are partners, is a common initiative of the national and regional governments of Spain and Portugal for the implementation of a coherent and coordinated approach to monitoring and evaluation of marine biodiversity in Macaronesia within the framework of the Marine Strategies. Given that regional coordination is essential to achieve the objectives established in the Marine Strategies, this seminar has had the participation of the marine research projects INDICIT and MARCET of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), which enriched the content with information on the close relationship between plastics and sea turtles in the archipelago and the network of cetacean strandings in the Canary Islands. respectively.

In addition to these activities, other actions are being launched to raise awareness of the project. Thus, the exhibition of the project has been inaugurated, present in one of the tents of the fair during the 3 days and an awareness workshop “Plastics everywhere” has been carried out in which a mural of awareness with floating garbage was elaborated together with the visiting volunteers.

These actions are the starting point of a series of activities that the Biodiversity Foundation is going to launch in the coming months in this area, aimed at primary and secondary school students as well as the general public.

Interested in learning more about the Mistic Seas 2 project?
The project, which runs from March 2017 to March 2019, has a total budget of €1.3 million and 80% co-financing from the European Commission. It is coordinated by the Regional Fund for Science and Technology (Regional Government of the Azores, Portugal), and has as partners the Regional Directorate for Marine Affairs, Regional Government of the Azores (Portugal); the Regional Secretariat for Environment and Natural Resources, Regional Government of Madeira, Portugal; the General Directorate of Natural Resources, Security and Maritime Services of the Ministry of the Sea of Portugal; the General Directorate of Sustainability of the Coast and the Biodiversity Foundation, both of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment of the Government of Spain; the General Directorate for the Protection of the Natural Environment of the Government of the Canary Islands; the Regional Agency for the Development of Research and Technology and Innovation of the Azores (ARDITI); and the Spanish Institute of Oceanography.

The first edition of MISTIC SEAS received the Atlantic Project Awards from the European Commission, which recognizes it as a project developed in the geographical area covered by the Atlantic Strategy and that is relevant to implement the Atlantic Action Plan within the framework of the Marine Strategies.