THREE PUBLIC EVENTS WITHIN THE “ISLANDS IN THE SEA OF KNOWLEDGE” PROJECT

The beginning of summer at the Blue World Institute was marked by traditional public events organized this year under the auspices of the ‘Islands in the Sea of Knowledge’ project co-financed by the European Social Fund as part of Call UP.04.2.1.10 “Strengthening the capacity of civil society organizations to popularize STEM”. Our work was presented to the general public at several locations on the occasion of three events – World Sea Turtle Day, the NGO’s Open Day and the 31st Dolphin Day.

World Sea Turtle Day on June 16 was an opportunity for the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre on Lošinj to open its doors to all interested visitors and introduce citizens to the most interesting facts about these fascinating animals through educational tours and an exhibition about sea turtles in the Mediterranean. Also, we organized a field trip by boat for the local community children, during which our educators held a workshop on flora and fauna of the Lošinj archipelago.

The Open Day was designed on the last day of June as a full-day presentation of our activities and projects, and an informative meeting with our researchers and scientists was held at the Lošinj Marine Education Centre and the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre on Lošinj called the ‘Science Café’. The emphasis of the entire manifestation was placed on the citizen science program, and free promotional dolphin watching trips were organised for interested citizens. In this regard, during the entire week from June 26 to July 2, 2023, a Bioblitz campaign was organized, inviting all interested citizens to join the mission entitled “Let’s discover Lošinj’s dolphins” via the mobile application “Marine Ranger” by sharing photos and videos of dolphins spotted in the wider area of the Lošinj Natura 2000 protected area for bottlenose dolphins. The goal of this activity was to collect as much information as possible that will contribute to the protection of bottlenose dolphins.

 

The 31st Dolphin Day was celebrated, as in previous years, on July 1 with fun and educational events for children in Veli and Mali Lošinj. This time, our special guest was Ribafish from the Rokotok association, who educated the youngest participants about the importance of playing and being outdoors, as well as preserving nature and caring for the environment. The traditional game ‘Hidden Treasure Hunt’ was held for the first time in the morning, because of the lower temperature, in order to facilitate the participation of the young contestants, who were 87 this year. An additional fifty of the youngest visitors accompanied by their parents joined the art workshops, while in the afternoon the competitive sports games were organised for about thirty participants on Kovčanje beach in Mali Lošinj.

 

In any case, thanks to the project ‘Islands in the sea of knowledge’, the strengthening of the capacity of educators of the Blue World Institute and representatives of the partner organizations Blue World Vis and Geopark Vis Archipelago, as well as numerous workshops held for children both on the island of Lošinj and on the island of Vis, there is a very dynamic semester behind us.