Students of VFSZ, for the weekend in Murter, on field work under the “Blue Project”..
This weekend in Murter (29.-31.03.2019) will be the first of two field work of students of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Zagreb within the project “Blue Project – Contribution to the Development of the DKU Program at VFZS” implemented by Argonauta Association, in partnership with the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Zagreb and the Pula Sea Education Center.
In April, 2018, the implementation of the “Blue Project” began. The purpose of the project is to give to the veterinary students a chance to engage in socially beneficial marine environment conservation projects. Through the projects within the classes, and in cooperation with civil society organizations students can identify the needs of the community and through the courses they develop potential solutions – projects that will be engaged in the local community. Within this concrete project, topics that are interesting to students are identified and will benefit the community through education on methods of monitoring populations and treatment of protected marine animals, sea turtles and dolphins.
In addition to Murter, students will also visit Pula and the Marine Education Center – Aquarium Pula in mid-April this year.
Students will develop projects through selected mentoring programs:
1. Tour of Critical Habitats in the Winter months – “How to help with chilled sea turtles?
2. Marine Patrol – How to Tell Dolphins / Sea Turtles?
3. Dolphin / sea turtle friendly behavior
Finding an Injured / Sick Sea Turtle – What to Do?
5. Uginuli Dolphin / Sea Turtle – What, How and Why to Make?
During the workshop in Murter, the thematic will be focused on dolphins and students will be educated on the development of monitoring protocols, recording the occurrence of protected marine animals – date, time, geographical position, number of animals, age category, meteorological conditions and human impact (maritime traffic, tourism and fishing), the basics of photographing protected marine species and the description of threats while staying in nature and the like. The most interesting part of the terrain in Murter will surely be the monitoring of dolphins for students on Saturday, March 30, 2019 at 8.30 pm from the Hramina bay in Murter. After their education, students will also, through the help of a mentor from Argonauta association, will devise their own group projects for the population of coastal and island communities across the Croatian Adriatic. Students will implement their projects by the end of the academic year in cooperation with local associations, schools and similar institutions.
For all information about the project, follow the official Facebook project of the Blue Project (https://www.facebook.com/plaviprojekt/) or the website of Argonauta Association (https://www.argonauta.hr/argonautini-projekti/plavi-projekt/) .
The project lasts for 18 months (until October 2019), co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) in the amount of 854,018, 21 Kn and its total value is 1,004,727.31 Kn. The project leader is the Association of Argonauts from Murter, and the partners of the project are the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Zagreb and the Pula Marine School. The project is implemented in the area of Šibenik-Knin, Zagreb and Istarska County.
