ABOUT VILANOVA I LA GELTRÚ
Vilanova i la Geltrú is a small coastal city near Barcelona that has a large port and a wide variety of activities around the Mediterranean Sea. It is widely recognized by its long extensions of beautiful beaches.
LOCAL GOALS
RELEVANT UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
LOCAL PARTNER
The Edmaktub Association, (Edmaktub) for the Study and Dissemination of the Environment, especially cetaceans, is a non-profit organization founded in 2020. The main activity it develops is research on cetaceans, biodiversity and the marine environment in which they inhabit for its conservation. At the same time, it also focuses its activities on the promulgation and education of the results, transferring them to the general public, making them participate as much as possible in citizen science activities. Their goal is to raise awareness about marine life and those factors that affect it, especially those produced by humans.
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FIN WHALE PROJECT
The main project that the association is currently carrying out is the Fin Whale Project. This is the study on the seasonal presence, in spring, of the fin whale, the only species of whale that regularly inhabits the Mediterranean and the second largest animal in the world after the blue whale. This project has shown for the first time the feeding of the fin whale on the Catalan coast and what are the environmental conditions that allow there to be great wealth in the trophic chain for these giants to travel to the area to feed. In this way, we can consider that the right conditions exist on this coast and it is the important habitat where these cetaceans feed, these being indicators of the existing environmental conditions. In the same way, we study the factors that affect the conservation of these marine mammals, such as plastic and acoustic pollution and mainly maritime traffic and collisions with large ships.
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
They also have an educational project where they hold talks for both adults and children in schools, companies and events, where they raise awareness about the great biodiversity of species found in the Catalan coast. They also talk about the scientific studies of the organization, the Fin Whale Project, the factors that affect these species such as plastic, collisions and noise pollution and also about the importance of caring for the oceans.
MICROPLASTICS
The project consists of monitoring the amount and type of microplastics found in the area where the whales inhabit. With specialized equipment and technicians, this research is carried out simultaneously with the fin whale research. Once they get the samples of microplastics, they analyze it to come up with specific data and also to use it for workshops with kids.