Presented at the last edition of Fitur, in Madrid, the “Vive la Posidonia” project will receive a total of 1,157,780 euros from the Ministry of Industry and Tourism to develop a joint strategy between Ibiza, Cambrils and Dénia to protect oceanic posidonia through a tourist experience that attracts quality tourism. The project was submitted to the state call for proposals, which a few weeks ago finally resolved a total of 25.82 million euros financed with Next Generation EU funds. The 36 participating proposals must be executed within a period of 18 months.
In the case of Dénia, its participation in this three-way program responds to a call for collaboration made from the other towns and will follow up on a project that had already started in the capital of La Marina Alta. With Ibiza there were “good relations”, explain sources from the town hall, and in turn the town was also in good harmony with Cambrils, since both are members of the Saborea España program, which promotes different gastronomic destinations.
In January, the three towns in the Old Crown of Aragon publicly presented the project and sought visibility with the collective exhibition in Madrid “The art of posidonia” which, with the collaboration of the shipping company Baleària, includes pieces with unique designs of jewelry, ceramics , painting and sculpture by artists from the three cities, who share creativity around posidonia, with the aim of giving visibility to this thousand-year-old underwater plant that is a World Heritage Site.
After the Madrid exhibition, the pieces were exhibited in Cambrils between the months of March and April. In Dénia it is expected that the sample will arrive in the third quarter of the year, although local sources acknowledge that the dates are unconfirmed. Meanwhile, from Tourism they promote activities to promote the marine plant, such as snorkeling through the Posidonia meadows at the hands of tourist companies in the area. To make it more attractive, and without sacrificing environmental education, they propose to finish off the activity with a tasting of two identical wines that have undergone different processes, since one of them has spent an entire year submerged in the sea among Posidonia meadows.
The council is also working on creating a new tourist product, which involves a tour accompanied by a virtual center, where technology serves to unite natural resources and promote this plant as an element of value, since they have detected that “many people do not know what that it is”, admit municipal sources.
In the region, on the other hand, there are different initiatives that demonstrate the opposite: this is the case of the firm Posidonia Cosmetics, a Beniarbeig cosmetics laboratory that works for third parties producing products with the Posidonia seal or the initiative that is promoted in the district of Jesús Poor, where they investigate the durability of baskets made with posidonia remains.
Meanwhile, in Ibiza the summer program “Viu la Posidònia” is still unknown. The changes in the local government, which has passed into popular hands after two legislatures of the left, have caused the program to go behind schedule, local sources say, and this month of July the awareness activities that in the island have been developed since 2017.
Until now, the city council promoted activities, exhibitions, educational workshops, gastronomy and prizes to raise awareness about the importance of marine plants that materialize in photographic immersions, kayak and paddle surf visits, menus in municipal restaurants or contests on social networks are Some examples.
Meanwhile, in the Catalan town of Cambrils, the involvement in the project is glimpsed with a public sculpture inaugurated a few weeks ago and inspired by Posidonia. A piece by the artist David Callau who wants to become a pole of attraction to enhance the image of the new commercial hub and give value to the wealth of shared marine ecosystems.
