Costa Brava Sub presents the route of eco-guided dives on the Costa Brava

The Estartit Yacht Club has hosted the presentation of the ‘ Eco-sub Costa Brava’ project promoted by the Association of Underwater Tourist Centres . An eco-guided immersion route to fully discover the natural underwater values ​​of the Costa Brava and how to conserve them.

The initiative consists of creating a tailor-made route for each diver through twelve areas of essential underwater natural interest to learn about biodiversity with relevant information about them, to learn about biodiversity in a cross-sectional way, marine habitats of fishing interest and the most significant species that inhabit them.

Route operation

The route is through axes of environmental interest, which can be treated in different geographical points, together or independently. It can therefore be done in any order and at different immersion points. The twelve axes are: the world of gorgonians and corals; large groupers; seahorses and inhabitants of posidonia and sandy bottoms; nudibranchs; biotopes and derelicts (sunken ships); blue and special fish; schools of fish; species without heads or feet (sponges, spirographs, anemones and more); the penumbra (lobsters, lobsters and clogs); small colorful fish; predators (moray eels, conger eel, octopus and scorpionfish); and the guardians of the sea. The exhibition of the natural values ​​of each axis and how to preserve them is done through different support materials, disseminated online and freely available, also in a downloadable and printed version. As in all eco-guidance projects, these booklets have illustrations and the information is rigorous but enjoyable, suitable for use linked to leisure activities. In addition, each of the twelve axes of interest is explained through a particularly emblematic immersion in its field with detailed information. These immersions have been published both on the website and in physical sheets that will be distributed to the centers.

A catalog with more than 150 dives

They are accompanied by an exhaustive online catalogue of more than 150 dives divided by zones and classified according to the different areas of natural underwater interest that can be covered. They can also be found on the specific project website. As complementary material, a passport (logbook) has been created where divers can record all the dives they make until completing their own route. This personal log of dives has a loyalty component, but the fundamental objective is to highlight the more unknown or undervalued aspects of recreational diving, posing the challenge of completing the entire route. The project is completed by a video of good practices in diving accompanied by a decalogue in web and printed format and a regulatory extract has been made for the practice of diving in Catalonia.

Continuity of the project

Eco-sub Costa Brava is the culmination of several initiatives promoted by Costa Brava Sub , co-financed by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMF) through the Costa Brava Local Action Group (GALP). In 2016 it was the turn of the good practices brochure, in 2018 professionals from the diving centers were trained in carrying out ecobriefings, and in 2021 the “Eco-guidance Toolkits” were created, with quality materials for the dissemination of natural values ​​and the practice of sustainable diving. “The Eco-Guided Dive Route is the icing on the cake of a set of projects with which we have provided the diving centers with training and informative material and now we focus on the visitor so that they can discover the Costa Brava in a different way, with added value and a more transversal vision”, declared Míriam Prat , president of the Costa Brava Underwater Tourist Centers Association.