A total of 452 secondary, middle, and upper primary school students from towns across Girona and Barcelona have participated in the environmental education programme of the LIFE ECOREST project. This initiative aims to raise awareness among the educational community about the natural value of deep-sea habitats and the importance of marine restoration.
Launched in October, the programme is promoted by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO) in coordination with project partners and led by the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC).
Eight educational centres located in coastal towns such as Figueres, Llançà, Castelló d’Empúries, Cadaqués, Roses, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Barcelona, and Premià de Mar have carried out the activities. The programme included a comprehensive training guide for teachers and students, interactive activities, games, and additional resources to reinforce the guide’s content.
Students and teachers alike showed great interest in the topics covered, particularly the LIFE ECOREST project’s ongoing actions in these regions and the importance of marine restoration. Special focus was placed on deep-sea habitats and sessile organisms, including corals, gorgonians, sponges, and bryozoans.
The role of the fishing sector in marine restoration was another key focus of the programme. Students actively engaged in classroom activities and demonstrated a high level of participation. Thanks to the collaboration with local fishermen’s guilds, students also visited aquariums in Port de la Selva, Arenys de Mar, Llançà, Vilanova i la Geltrú, and Roses, where accidentally caught marine organisms are rehabilitated before being returned to the sea. Today’s latest visit occurred at the Arenys de Mar fishermen’s guild in Barcelona.
The LIFE ECOREST education programme will continue into 2025, with the goal of further educating and raising awareness among teachers, schoolchildren, and citizens in the provinces of Girona and Barcelona. Educational materials and resources remain available for interested schools on the LIFE ECOREST project website.
RESTORATION OF DEEP HABITATS
The LIFE ECOREST project aims to restore approximately 30,000 hectares of deep-sea habitats in Catalonia through the active involvement of the fishing sector. In addition to research and conservation efforts, the project promotes participatory management, strengthens governance mechanisms, and raises public awareness about the need to protect deep-sea ecosystems.
Coordinated by the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) until 2026, the project involves key partners, including the Federació Territorial de Confraries de Pescadors de Girona, the Biodiversity Foundation (MITECO), the University of Barcelona, and WWF Spain. It is co-funded by the European Union’s LIFE Programme and benefits from the collaboration of fishermen’s associations in Llançà, Port de la Selva, Cadaqués, Roses, Palamós, Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Blanes, Arenys de Mar, and Vilanova i la Geltrú.