Nautical crossing of the LIFE A-MAR project in Catalonia

Between 26 and 31 May, the planned stopovers in Catalonia will take place as part of the nautical journey that is touring more than 10 marine areas of the Natura 2000 Network in the Mediterranean to raise awareness of the benefits and opportunities of these places.

The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), in coordination with the Directorate-General for Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification and the autonomous communities involved, is launching this information campaign of the European project LIFE A-MAR, Knowing and loving the marine areas of the Natura 2000 Network to protect them, coordinated by the Italian Federation of Parks and Nature Reserves (Federparchi), and which is being developed in parallel in Italy and Spain. It has the financial contribution of the LIFE Program of the European Union

The campaign is being carried out off the coasts of the Region of Murcia, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Andalusia until June 6. In each of the eight stops that will be made in total, guided tours and participatory sessions are being carried out with socioeconomic agents and the local population.

The largest network of protected areas

The Natura 2000 Network is the European network of protected areas, the largest in the world. Its purpose is to ensure the long-term conservation of priority species and habitats for Europe, and to contribute to halting the loss of biodiversity, while ensuring economic development that respects these important natural values. They are managed both by the autonomous community where each space is located and by the General State Administration.

The Spanish Mediterranean is made up of 128 marine or maritime-terrestrial areas, covering 16% of its waters.

Protected areas in Catalonia

Off the coast of Catalonia are 15 of these marine spaces. The nautical campaign will cover two of them: El Montgrí, Illes Medes and Baix Ter, in Girona, and the Delta de l’Ebre, in Tarragona.

El Montgrí, Illes Medes and Baix Ter is an SCI and SPA located between the regions of l’Alt and Baix Empordà. It is an area specially protected for its environmental, scenic, historical and cultural values. The Medes archipelago, with seven islets and an area of approximately 23 hectares, has an excellent seabed and is one of the most important reserves of marine flora and fauna in the western Mediterranean.

The posidonia meadows are among the best preserved on the Catalan coast. From a depth of 15 m, coralligenous, red gorgonians and eye coral appear, which are very sensitive to human impact and climate change. Almost all the underwater environments of the western Mediterranean are represented on the seabed. Other protected species that inhabit its waters and coasts are the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta), the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and the Balearic shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus), the most endangered bird in Europe.

The Ebro Delta is a large marine area that includes the entire shelf and part of the continental slope under the direct influence of the Ebro River. It stretches parallel to the coast, for more than 140 km, from the cape of Salou in the north, to the surroundings of the Columbretes and Castellón de la Plana islands in the south. It is the largest aquatic habitat in Catalonia and is considered one of the most important marine feeding areas for waterfowl in the entire Mediterranean. Its marine part is one of the areas with the highest biological productivity, thanks to the combination of various factors such as the river contributions of the Ebro, and the upwelling of deep waters rich in nutrients.

The Delta De L’Ebre is a dynamic system resulting from continuous structural processes and the anthropic transformations of recent years. This space is also SCI and SPA. Some protected species that inhabit its waters are: sandwich tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis), pen shell (Pinna nobilis) and meadows of Cymodocea nodosa, which after Posidonia oceanica, is the second most important marine plant in the Mediterranean, due to its size and the extension occupied by its meadows, which provide important shelter to a multitude of animals.

PROGRAM

📌 Girona. May 26 and 27:

– May 26, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Training session for nautical companies on anchoring in posidonia and marine species. Port de l’Estartit; Training room Escola de Vela Club Nàutic L’Estartit.

– May 26, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Guided sailing tour for teachers through the El Montgrí space, Medes Islands and the Baix Ter. Meeting point: port of l’Estartit

– May 27, 11:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m. Guided sailing tour through the El Montgrí space, Illes Medes and the Baix Ter. Meeting point: port of l’Estartit

📌 Tarragona. May 30 and 31:

– 30 and 31 May, all day. Public awareness campaign. On board the sailboat docked in the port of l’Ampolla.

– May 30, 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Meeting with socio-economic agents. L’Ampolla (room to be confirmed). Registration and more information.

– May 31. Guided boat tour of the Ebro Delta Natural Park. The tour includes visits to the Fangar area and within the Badía. Two shifts of visits. Departure from the port of l’Ampolla. Registration and more information.