We have the privilege of diving every day and enjoying the wonders of the underwater world, but this privilege comes with a responsibility. Since our beginnings, we have been committed to supporting and designing projects for protecting the marine environment, environmental education, dissemination, citizen science, and support for scientific projects and students in training.
We organize Conferences and workshops for Schools and other institutions. Designed and realized two marine citizen science projects, designed photography expositions, participated in 15 marine citizen science projects, and became 2023 a Green Fins Dive Center.
We are one of three dive centers in Spain participating in the citizen science project REMORA with COUSTEAU DIVERS.
The Remora is a prototype developed initially to measure temperature and depth and geolocate the area where these parameters have been taken. This pioneering project will test the devices in some 50 dive centers worldwide. In the future, the project intends to incorporate more sensors that allow other parameters, such as dissolved oxygen, pH, salinity, etc., to be taken.
You can go to Cousteaudivers.org and see the measurements obtained worldwide and the ones taken by us.
AQUATOURS ALMERIA is now part of the international GREEN FINS Community, a UNITED NATIONS program FOR THE ENVIRONMENT conducted by the REEF-World Foundation.
Scuba diving, snorkeling, and other marine tourism activities are fantastic ways to introduce people to the aquatic environment and create new advocates for the ocean. However, if not managed correctly, these activities can have serious negative consequences for fragile ecosystems such as coral reefs or seagrass meadows like Posidonia oceanica.
Green Fins is a proven conservation management approach, implemented internationally by the Reef-World Foundation and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), to reduce the negative environmental impact of marine tourism measurably. It aims to protect coral reefs and other aquatic ecosystems through environmentally friendly guidelines that promote sustainable diving and snorkeling. It provides the only internationally recognized environmental standards for marine tourism, and its robust assessment system measures compliance.
We have been one of Spain’s only eight dive centers in this category since January 2023.
AQUATOURS MARINE CITIZEN SCIENCE PROGRAMS
Aquatours Almería also has its own Citizen Science programs, one of which has been running since 2016: “The Posidonia control station.” Every year, we go with recreational divers to a specific seagrass meadow and measure the plants’ coverage, length of leaves, presence of fauna, and burial.
The other one will begin in August of 2024. While diving, you will be looking for individuals of Pinna rudis, a big Mollusca. If you find it, you will place a label close to it. (We will teach you in advance in a short workshop.) We expect that in 2025, we will have around 50 or 60 of these Bivalve animals labeled and measured. All this information will be sent to two researchers studying this species.