Dragonera Blava Network
Community involvement is essential to ensure the proper functioning of marine reserves. Xarxa Dragonera Blava is the result of the Know your Sa Dragonera Marine Protected Area project, led by the organisation Save the Med to promote the connection between the natural space and the local population. Forty companies, businesses, artists, and individuals have already joined the initiative.
In 2022, we have renewed our support for the project for a total of €85,000 for the next two years.
During 2019 and 2020, photo exhibitions, educational workshops, and information meetings were organised to raise awareness among residents and visitors of the protected marine area. In 2021, the aim was to move from awareness to action: to identify actions that schools, businesses, fishers, or diving centres could take to become custodians of Sa Dragonera. Some of the actions aimed at the public were marine citizen science workshops, guided kayak trips, excursions around the Natural Park, underwater photography workshops for teenagers, and the MARE-Dragonera FotoColab.
The extension of the marine reserve to outer waters, approved in 2020, makes this intervention even more necessary.
Red scorpionfish (Scorpaena scrofa), photograph taken in Sa Dragonera and presented at the MARE photography competition. Photo: Przemyslaw Dariusz.
Several of the activities carried out demonstrate the transition towards a more proactive involvement of the sectors, such as the prizes donated for the FotoColab by local businesses in the municipality and the Information Days held in November.
Informative material has also been disseminated about the two marine reserves in the area and a new communication channel has been created for the community: www.sadragonera.org
Next steps
The objective for the next two years is to establish the processes of citizen participation and marine stewardship through social forums, which will be held quarterly in the area. The platform will also support the administration in improving the effectiveness of the conservation and regeneration figures, the Natura 2000 Network Management Plan, and the Marine Reserve Monitoring Commission, among others.
Finally, the project will focus on mediation between the five administrations that manage parts of the Dragonera conservation to facilitate more agile communication. 2022 will be a year of training for the sectors and will also continue to raise awareness of the marine wealth of the marine reserve, as well as its evolution, through environmental education activities.
