Within the frame of the project SIMARINE-NATURA we carry out different educational activities about marine ecosystem and the Mediterranean Shag. In the past year, class presentations and outdoor excursions were organized for primary school pupils and secondary school students.
We have visited different parts of Slovenian coast, where roosting shags can be observed on the buoys of mussel farms – the Strunjan, Piran and St. Bartholomeus bays. We have been observing the shags leaving the roosting sites and flying out to sea for foraging, individuals resting on buoys after feeding, and those foraging near the coast. The young participants have thus got to know the main characteristics of the Mediterranean Shags like: communal roosting, predation, flight and diving behaviour, feather drying …
Moreover, we have been sampling and observing other organisms in coastal zone. We payed attention to environmental factors like tide, sea and air temperature, winds and waving. We have closely examined the collected organisms, outlined their characteristics and then released them alive back to their environment.
We were attentive also to human’s impacts on the coast and at sea, especially to problematics of polution and its negative consequences on marine ecosystem, which is shared between people and other species.
The participants have received posters about marine Natura 2000 sites. 13 primary and 3 secondary schools from the coastal region participated during the school year 2012/2013. 14 presentations attended by 295 pupils and 20 excursions attended by 372 pupils were carried out for primary schools. 53 and 57 high school students attended class presentations and excursions, respectively. We continue with educational activities this school year, mostly for high school and university students.
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