During July 2021, through a project by Interreg Italy – Croatia SASPAS within the Kornati National Park, a total of 40 environmentally friendly anchorages were set up in the bays: Kravljačica, Strižnja, Šipnate, and Tomasovac, reports HrTurizam.hr. In each of these bays, 10 anchorages have been set up for vessels up to 16 meters long, according to the Association for Nature, Environment and Sustainable Development Sunce.
According to the Association, there is a buoy at each anchor point, and all buoys were set up using the “Earth Anchor” system – methods of drilling through sand and sea sediment into the rock surface where the anchors were shot directly into the seabed. Given the nature of the setup, the impact on marine sediment is short-lived and negligible.
“During the installation, and later the exploitation of the anchorage, there is no contact with the vegetation cover, which is extremely important for the preservation of sea flowers and why this anchor system is more environmentally friendly compared to the installation of concrete blocks. Each anchorage consists of a circular sea area with an anchor bolt in the center, as well as an anchor buoy with a final mooring loop of anchor rope next to it. It is important to emphasize that this solution was chosen to ensure that the anchor chain does not touch the seabed even during the lowest water level. The anchor mooring works in such a way that the vessel is moored to the anchor rope and depending on the influence of the wind on the vessel, it rotates around the anchor buoy.”, states the Sunce Association.
The installation of 40 environmentally friendly anchorages is one of the goals of the SASPAS project, which included a campaign aimed at raising public awareness, especially boaters, about the importance of protection and preservation of sea flowers, with special emphasis on Posidonia.
Photo: Sunce Association
A special focus was on the preservation of Posidonia (Posidonia oceanica), a strictly protected species. Posedonia is a sea flower and endemic to the Mediterranean Sea, and it is the Posidonia meadows that are considered to be the most important ecosystem in the Mediterranean because they are oxygen factories and carbon dioxide stores. Marine organisms, primarily fish, seek shelter among their leaves, spawn and reproduce. Despite their prevalence, they are endangered by numerous human actions, and the biggest threat is precisely free anchoring.
With the successful installation of such an anchor system, as part of the SASPAS project, the long-term goal of the Kornati National Park is to establish anchorages in all 19 bays, as well as to completely ban free anchoring in the national park, has begun.
The Sunce Association was founded in 1998 by a group of Split intellectuals to respond to society’s growing need for an independent and professional body to offer solutions to environmental and nature protection issues. Today, the Association is present at the national and international level as one of the leading organizations for nature and environmental protection in Croatia.
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