Ibiza, Balearic Islands

The Foundation and the Vellmarí Association started collaborating in 2022 to improve the state of conservation of the violescent sea-whip (Paramuricea clavata) populations in the nature reserves of Es Vedrà, Es Vedranell and the Poniente Isles in Ibiza.

The initiative comprises three lines of action: a survey of the area, mitigation of threats and public awareness campaigns. After determining the distribution of the species and the degree of destruction by human activity, the fishing gear abandoned on the sea floor will be removed and a campaign will be carried out to raise the awareness of the fishing sector and the local population about the need to protect this fragile ecosystem.

The results of the study will be presented to the institutions involved in managing these protected areas so that effective measures can be implemented to guarantee their preservation.

Santander, Cantabria

Carried out by Fundación Naturaleza y Hombre with support from Fundación Banco Santander, this initiative entails a series of actions to protect marine biodiversity, reduce pollution and restore the natural assets of Santander Bay.

The first step will be to remove the exotic invasive species and encourage the presence of native fauna such as the European eel (Anguilla anguilla), three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) and the short- and long-snouted seahorses (Hippocampus hippocampus and Hippocampus guttulatus).

Different types of coastal habitats will also be restored and marine litter will be removed from the islands closest to the coast that have the largest biological communities.

Lastly, a communication plan, volunteering days and environmental education activities will be organised to raise public awareness about the importance of preserving this ecosystem threatened by demographic pressure.

Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Basque Country and Andalucia

In 2022 Fundación Banco Santander signed a collaboration agreement with the Coordinadora para o Estudo dos Mamíferos Mariños (CEMMA) to encourage public participation in the conservation of Iberian orcas through a campaign to raise awareness about the species and one of its main threats: the interaction with boats. 

The CEMMA team will create a catalogue of individuals to shed more light on their populations. The contents of the catalogue and information on the different species of cetaceans and their biology will be shared via a digital portal, social media and miscellaneous publicity materials (videos, posters, field notebooks, action protocols, etc.) for use in environmental education activities. The training workshops will be divided into three levels of detail according to the recipients: technical (maritime authorities and skippers), educational (diving schools and orca watching companies) and informative (schoolchildren and the general public).

Barbanza area of La Coruña

The Foundation extended its collaboration with Fundación RIA for another two years to continue the activity of the Barbanza Eco-Social Laboratory. In 2020 the laboratory embarked on a research project with the HISTAGRA group of Santiago de Compostela University to promote the environmental, social and economic sustainability of this area in Galicia.

The new collaboration agreement facilitated the creation of two seed projects to promote activities that reconcile the exploitation of resources with the conservation of the environment. The first one is focused on various tracts of communal land located in the municipality of Rianzo that are given over entirely to the monoculture of eucalyptus trees and are frequently destroyed by wildfires due to negligent management. The second project concerns a wetland on the banks of the River Ulla that has suffered a loss of biodiversity due to part of the local community abandoning traditional farming practices.

Balearic Islands

The Foundation continued to collaborate with the Tursiops association to improve certain aspects of the OCULTA research project conducted in 2020 and 2021 on the capacity of sperm whales to learn how to avoid collisions with ships and transfer this knowledge to other individuals of the species.

The continuity of this project, now renamed ULISES, led to the optimisation of one of the essential phases of the study: marking the animals with a CAT (customised animal tracking solution), an instrument fitted with a hydrophone and sensors to record the whales’ sequences of immersion.

The usual method of affixing the CAT with a pole from a nearby boat was replaced with the use of drones (UAV-unmanned aerial vehicle) to reduce the animals’ stress and the probability of accidents. ULISES will assess the effectiveness of this technique in controlled conditions in future research campaigns.

In 2019 and 2020, Fundación Banco Santander and Fundación Naturaleza y Hombre collaborated in the stabilisation of the black stork populations in natural spaces of Salamanca and Cáceres belonging to the Natura 2000 network. This handbook describes the actions carried out and provides details about the ecology, biology and distribution of this species in the western Iberian Peninsula. 

The results obtained were supplemented with data from previous reports published by other experts and this same organisation, such as the annual censuses undertaken in the area since 2007 and the tracking of individuals on their migratory route.