WORKING IN IERANTO BAY!

About a month ago, we started going on weekends to what will be our main working place during the summer – Ieranto Bay. Here we have already had the opportunity to participate in several activities.

Initially we started by cleaning the FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano) info point, which was once part of the facilities of a quarry that existed in this place and that now serves as information point about the Ieranto Bay. Here we share, with all those interested in visiting us, all the information about this wonderful bay, always representing the 3 organizations that collaborate here – FAI, AMPPC (Area Marina Protetta Punta Campanella) and MAREA Outdoors. This is also the meeting point for all visitors who want to participate in the available excursions, both pedestrians and by kayak, is the point for snorkeling material collection, for all who want to see the rich biodiversity that can be found under these clean blue waters and also where we do some activities with visitors (imagine, we have already collaborated in a class given to a group of students from the USA on algae and on the marine plant Posidonia oceanica).

In order to be able to receive visitors and inform them in the best way, we had to learn a lot about this place. For this, we counted on the precious help of people who work here daily, for a long time, and who have the bay as a second home. These people are Antonella, Salvatore, Domenico, Gianna, Pepe, Guido, etc. They are always willing to help or share some history with us. We also had a kayak trip around all the coastline of the bay, with Domenico, with the right to detailed explanation and then we elaborated drawings of the same, so that we could perceived every single detail of it.

It is also part of our functions and is perhaps the most important, to monitor the bay, which consists of several things:

• One is to monitor the boats. For this we record all boats that enter here and we inform them that they are in zone B of a protected marine area. If it is an unauthorized motor boat, we also inform that they cannot be there and we kindly ask them to leave, showing other options where they can enjoy what the sea has to give them. Meanwhile, whenever possible, we collect marine litter that we find along the way;
• We also monitor the visitors, by checking and taking note of the number of people in the bay every 2 hours and we collect the water temperature;
• Finally, we monitor, through snorkeling, the species of organisms we can find in this bay, as well as their abundance.

All this data collection will serve later to understand how the state of the Ieranto Bay varies over time.

We believe that, although very tiring, this will be a full summer, filled of work and new experiences and we also will consider Ieranto Bay as a second home, for which we already have a great affection.