Made with us
The AMPIC.COM project arose from the urgent need to protect the rocky reef that exists between the Lighthouse of Alfanzina and the Dock of Albufeira, the Marine Protected Area of Community Interest, the future Marine Natural Park Recife do Algarve – Pedra do Valado and the socio-economic activities that depend on it. It aims to show civil society and local and regional communities the natural and cultural resources, as well as the need to protect them, but also to survey the natural, socio-economic and cultural values that can serve as a reference. It is an initiative of CCMAR co-financed by the Operational Program for Mar2020 and by GAL PESCA do Barlavento do Algarve through the Barlavento Development Agency, in partnership with the Oceano Azul Foundation and the municipalities of Albufeira, Lagoa and Silves, with Sciaena responsible for project communication.
Created in 2019, the “Há Mar e Mar, Há Uso e Recuperar” (There is Sea, and Sea, There is Use and Recover) campaign brings together more than 40 organizations from Portugal and Spain, following the approval by the Assembly of the Republic of decree-law 69/2018, in favor of the implementation of a deposit return system (DRS) for beverage packaging that includes all types of materials: plastic, aluminum and glass, in Portugal. Associated with this campaign was the collection of signatures for a petition that asked for the end of the delay in the implementation of this system, addressed to the Minister of Environment and Climate Action. Sciaena leads the communication of this project through the campaign’s Instagram page, highlighting the best DRS practices of its European neighbors, as well as warning about the daily waste of 4 million beverage packages, in Portugal, in the absence of this system.
The Ocean Base Camp took place during the week of June 27 to July 1, 2022, in parallel with the 2nd UN Ocean Conference, with the aim of being a “safe harbor” for civil society organizations. A place where everyone was welcome to relax, share contacts and think together about the solutions we need to find to protect the ocean and thus contribute decisively to face the climate and biodiversity crises.
The space, located in the Dock of Parque das Nações, had its own schedule covering topics such as deep sea mining, marine litter, conservation of emblematic species such as sharks and whales, as well as new approaches to fisheries management. During the week, Belgian artist-in-residence Iris Maertens visually recorded the content discussed at Ocean Base Camp, which can be consulted at https://www.irisistible.design/unoc2022.
The Culatra – Sustainable Community project is promoted by AMIC, in partnership with Sciaena and Make it Better, and financed by the Citizens Ativ@s Program, within the scope of the initiative “Culatra 2030 – Sustainable Energy Community“.
The objective is to create opportunities for the island’s sustainable development, through the implementation of an integrated program of awareness-raising, training and capacity building aimed at the community. Sciaena’s role is to transfer knowledge in terms of circularity, good environmental practices and civic participation and, with this, provide tools through activities adapted to the reality of the islanders carried out by different partners.
The great challenge of being able to impact young people, with the sharing of knowledge and the practice of effective training, will allow greater awareness of action, a firmer position and greater participation, ensuring the continuity of the logic of integration of circular economy principles.
The project “PlasticSea: The impact of microplastics in the Ocean, Sea Salt and Aquaculture”, financed by Fundo Azul, aims to assess the impact on human health, and raise awareness among the Portuguese about pollution by microplastics on the Portuguese coast, as well as in aquaculture and salt production products in Portugal. The project’s multidisciplinary team has six different entities: the Center for Marine and Environmental Research of the University of Algarve (CIMA-Ualg), Sagremarisco, the Portuguese Association of Aquaculturists (APA), the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA) ), the Centro de Ciência Viva do Algarve (CCVAlg) and Sciaena, as a communication partner.
The project launch event took place on November 26, 2021 and can be reviewed here.
The VAL+ project resulted from a partnership between Docapesca, SPEA – Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds and Sciaena. Fishing communities, consumers and traders were involved in an attempt to influence good practices taking into account their wants and needs. Starting in May 2014, VAL+ was implemented until 2016.
The objective was to contribute to add value to the products of small Portuguese fisheries, through characterization, identification of points to enhance and suggesting small adjustments that would enhance the final product. Contribution was made to data collection to improve the performance of fisheries at different levels: environmental, social, economic and fisheries management. The VAL+ focused on the fishing ports of Santa Luzia, Sagres, Sesimbra, Peniche and Viana do Castelo, particularly on longlines and traps.
Sciaena co-organises, with many other Portuguese entities, the National Meeting for Climate Justice since 2017. Consistently, Sciaena’s participation has ensured that themes related to the ocean are taken to the successive Meetings and, thus, it becomes closer and highlights the role of the ocean as an ally in the fight against climate change. Offshore oil extraction and deep sea mining are just some of the activities that threaten climate justice and the maintenance of ecosystem health. The link between climate and ocean is increasingly evident and public policies must also recognize and act on the fact that climate change potentiates and is promoted by the poor state of the ecosystem, with the intersectionality between the two areas being of utmost importance.
The marine litter present on our shores is a constant reminder of how urgent it is to change our consumption patterns towards reusing and repurposing. In 2021, from a clean-up action in Porto Novo, in Faro, the project LIXARTE was born – transforming rubbish (lixo, in portuguese) into art.
This project brings together several schools, whose students create pieces of art in form of tapestries from rubbish collected in cleanups of beaches and coastal areas, as a way to alert about the threat that pollution poses to marine biodiversity, and thus, raising awareness among the population to act in favor of preserving the ocean and the planet. In addition to schools, public entities, environmental associations and youth movements are also part of LIXARTE, collaborating in the collection of waste, the construction of the pieces and the dissemination of our common message.
