Blue Panda is the WWF Ambassador sailing boat that will take its route into Mediterranean Sea from May to October 2022, sailing to France (Marseille, Toulon, Pelagos Sanctuary), Italy (Camogli – AMP Portofino, Pelagos Sanctuary), Turkey (Cesme, Dilek Peninsula) and Spain (Alboran Sea, Cartagena, Motril).
This year the main goals of the Italian stage are:
- Fighting against fishing ghost gear
- Education and awareness raising activities on plastic pollution in nature
- bringing visibility and accelerating the achievement of 30by30 goal: the effectively protection of at least 30% of the Mediterranean by 2030 and the defense of cetaceans.
Several EcoeFISHent partners will support the event, including the project leader FILSE, Project HUB-360, TICASS (supporting the project dissemination and exploitation activities), Portofino Protected Marine Area, Arpal, Amiu, Proplast and University of Genoa.
In addition other institutions will collaborate to the event: Menkab – the breath of the sea, Ziguele, WWF SUB, Reef Alert Network, local fishermen and confcooperative with the patronage of the Municipality of Camogli.
The main goal is to free the Portofino Marine Protected Area from fishing ghost gear relying on the seabed, with the cooperation of fishermen and divers in the context of the European project Horizon 2020 EcoeFISHent, whom WWF Italy is a partner.
There will be also a “Fishing for litter” operation (plastic recovery in the sea) carried out by a trawler owned by Santa Margherita Ligure fishermen with the collaboration of ARPAL, another partner of the EcoeFISHent project.
The Blue Panda week will also involve the public: visits on board the Blue Panda, educational and awareness-raising activities at Camogli Beach are planned, also aimed at children to learn about the dangers of plastic pollution in the sea and the most virtuous behaviors everyone should adopt.
On Monday July 11th an institutional round table will close the activities: the discussion on the “Salvamare” Law, recently approved in Liguria will be a chance for evaluating its prospective application. An important topic also for the activities of the EcoeFISHent project. The signing of a letter of intent will be proposed for the implementation of a protocol between the Marine Protected Area of Portofino and all the local actors.
The goal is the fight against ghost gear in the Portofino MPA, and the removing of plastic waste within the Marine Protected Area.
Program
7th July Press conference in Camogli (Liguria). Welcome to Blue Panda sailing boat
8th July Macro-plastic sea cleaning in cooperation with Arpal. Sea-bottom cleaning of the ghost gear and project EcoeFISHent presentation
9th July Discovering Portofino Marine Protected Area and Mediterranean specimens
10th July Meeting with WWF, AMP Portofino and Menkab volunteers and visits to the Blue Panda sailing boat
11th July h15-17 Roundtable: “Ecoefishent presents: «Salvamare» law and its application” – Institutional roundtable in Hotel Cenobio dei Dogi – Camogli (Ligurian region).
12th-16th July Blue Panda research cruise in order to collect data about cetaceans in the area of the Pelagos Sanctuary
Useful links (Italian language)
www.wwf.it/cosa-puoi-fare-tu/eventi/blue-panda/
www.wwf.it/pandanews/wwf-life/progetti-e-iniziative/la-barca-a-vela-blue-panda-torna-in-italia/
www.wwf.it/pandanews/ambiente/inquinamento/a-camogli-salpano-gli-eventi-della-blue-panda-week/
