The Infoday “Local involvement, the key to the recovery of Deep sea habitats” was held in Vilanova i Geltrú (Barcelona).
This event, organized by the Fundación Biodiversidad of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, in collaboration with the Fishermen’s Guild of Vilanova i la Geltrú and the project pa
rtners, was attended by public administrations, the scientific community, the fishing sector, NGOs, diving schools, and the educational community.
The opening session included the participation of Jaume Carnicer, the head of the Fishermen’s Guild of Vilanova i la Geltrú, and Anna Ribera, the third deputy mayor and councilwoman for City Promotion; Economic Promotion and Capitality; Business and Social Economy of the Vilanova i la Geltrú City Council. The event was also opened by Lucía Martínez, head of the Fisheries Service of the General Directorate of Maritime Policy and Sustainable Fisheries of the Government of Catalonia, and Víctor Gutiérrez, coordinator of the Conservation and Restoration of Ecosystems Area at the Fundación Biodiversidad of MITECO.
Next, Jordi Grinyó, coordinator of the LIFE ECOREST project at the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC), along with Marina Biel and Sofia Faramelli, researchers at ICM-CSIC, presented the main advances of the LIFE ECOREST project, including those from the fourth oceanographic campaign.
PANEL DISCUSSION AND GUIDED TOUR
The event also included a panel discussion where participants shared insights on how to contribute to the recovery of marine ecosystems through education, recreational activities, fishing, and governance. Elisabet Navarro, Biology and Geology teacher at Institut Dolors Mallafrè i Ros in Vilanova i la Geltrú; Jaume Juan Fernández, director of Underwater Barcelona; and José Luis García Varas, head of the Ocean Program at WWF Spain were part of this round table.
The event concluded with a guided tour of the aquariums at the Fishermen’s Guild of Vilanova i la Geltrú, where organisms rescued from fishing nets are rehabilitated and will be returned to the sea thanks to the collaboration of the fishing sector. In this final part of the event, researchers from the University of Barcelona, Maria Montseny and Beatriz Moura Vinha, explained the characteristics of organisms like sea pens.