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When we first set up Plàncton, one of our goals was to spread knowledge about the sea to as many people as possible and promote awareness about the conservation of marine ecosystems. For this reason, we voluntarily and altruistically collaborate with citizen science projects every year. On the one hand, we believe these activities are essential to help in the preservation and protection of local ecosystems, but we also participate simply because they are great fun!
We collaborate with the following Citizen Science projects (involving citizen participation in scientific research). We provide scientific observations and data we collect from our usual diving activities, related to fish, invertebrates, sea plants, litter, plastic waste… this data is then used by scientists in their research projects.
We began participating in the BioMARató marine observation project in 2021. A friendly competition between Catalan coastal towns and cities to see which area can collect more sightings of coastal and underwater wildlife and plants. Are you ready to take part?
We organize talks and snorkelling and diving outings at Plàncton specifically for carrying out marine observations but you can also do it on your own of course!
What do you have to do? It’s easy!
More information at: https://biomarato.com/ Follow our social networks too for more information on sightings and activities!
We have been collaborating with the ‘Surfing for Science’ project run by Doctor Anna Sánchez Vidal from Barcelona University for several months. Fans of kayaking or paddle surf can join the project to help search surface waters for microplastics and provide data which the university will use in its research. How? Once a fortnight you have to paddle for a nautical mile dragging a small specially designed net behind you which will collect microplastics. This is then sent to the university. Over a dozen associations and firms are participating in the project. If you want to take part, drop us a line!
Plàncton is the Sentinel Observatory on the Costa Daurada and Ebre stretch of coastline for the Sea Watchers project run by the Marine Science Institute (ICM-CSIC). In other words, we are the local centre for anyone who wants to volunteer to participate in this fascinating project. We organize a specific diving outing for the project: a free dive (you can hire equipment and bottles from us if you need them) with scientific objectives meaning only volunteers with previous experience diving can take part to ensure we collect the samples correctly and do not cause an impact on the local environment. The session starts with a short talk about the objectives of the project and the diving activity lasts all morning. How can you participate?
Once a year we organize an opisthobranchia (sea slugs) course and work with GROC to dive to carry out a census of the sea slugs we can find in the bays in and around l’Ametlla de Mar. Apart from this specific outing, we always try to take photos of any slugs we see on our daily dives and let the research group know so as to help them in their work into learning more about these fascinating creatures. Do you want to help too?
