We all love our sea, eat its “fruit”, write poems about it… But how much do we understand it and how much do we know about it? Not as much as we think, but the question is how much do we really know? Because if we know a lot and understand the consequences of our actions that we have justification for, when we treat the Adriatic as a big blue container or as a reservoir of inexhaustible stocks of marine organisms we take at anytime, anywhere and in any quantity? When we concretize and plant artificial shores or endanger it by exploiting oil?
Association for Nature, Environment and Sustainable Development Sunce as a response to such issues and challenges, has prepared and issued a Handbook for the Protection of the Sea and the Recognition of the Living World of the Adriatic.
“The handbook consists of two parts, one that covers and describes the threats to the Adriatic Sea as well as tools, mechanisms and procedures that can mitigate or eliminate such threats and the other part of the Manual provides descriptions and photographs for identifying 200 Adriatic species (algae to fish and marine mammals) and is intended for students of natural scientists, divers and all those who want to know more about the sea, “says biologist Mosor Prvan, along with Zrinka Jakl, the editor of the Manual.
The Sunce Association will use the Manual for field work on the mapping of species and habitats and the manual will not be available for sale at this time because we have printed limited quantities (600 pieces) foreseen by the project. In order for the content to be able to offer to all seafarers, free access to the PDF version of the Manual can be found here.
“We hope that the user will contribute to the understanding of the Adriatic, that readers will learn, and who knows, maybe, even more, to love our sea and show it with their actions. We can not take care of the whole planet, but we can take care of the small part we are managing and be one of the world’s oceans and seas manageable puzzle jigs, “Prvan concluded.
The manual was developed within the project “Mapping, monitoring and management of cross-border Natura 2000 network at sea – 4 M” (IPA cross-border cooperation program Croatia – Montenegro 2007 – 2013).