European Marine Education Monitoring Network

Spring School 2009

The Spring School began with an introductory session at Ciimar on Friday the 13th March. A total of 31 supervisors, students and volunteers took part: 5 each from Crete, Poland and the UK plus 16 from Portugal. In this afternoon session participants from each country gave a presentation on the monitoring work they were undertaking in their respective countries followed by an explanation of some of their country's customs/traditions. After a group photograph outside Ciimar participants had the opportunity to enjoy the sights and sounds of Porto with a walk through the old town to the Port wine cellars, where we were given a guided tour followed by dinner and a boat cruise to experience Porto from the river Douro.

Day 1 - Practical session

This first session was held at Praia de Mohle, Porto, a beach within walking distance of our accommodation that had areas of rocky and sandy substrates. Students and volunteers were introduced to various protocols: Shore Thing, MOBiDiC (Portugal) NaGISA (Crete) and LITUS (Poland). The group was then divided into small groups to try out each of the protocols.

In the afternoon intertidal organisms collected using the MOBiDiC, NaGISA and sandy shore protocols were examined at the Fundacao de Serralves facility. This was followed by a cultural visit to the Serralves gardens and museum.

Day 2 - Practical session

The second practical session was held 70 Km north of Porto, at Viana do Castelo, an extensive area of rocky shore. The first of a two part morning session concentrated on the rocky shore protocols; Shore Thing, MOBiDiC and NaGISA. Participants took a profile of the shore and recorded species within 0.5 m2 quadrats at the upper, middle and lower shore. Specimens were taken at the lower shore using the NaGISA protocol before finishing with a Shore Thing timed species search. We then moved a short distance down the coast to carry out a sandy shore survey.

In this session everyone had the opportunity to carry out a sandy shore survey used in Poland. Lech Kotwicki explained the various methods used to record environmental parameters such as water temperature and transparency, pH and salinity. Samples were also taken of macrofauna and nekton using sieves and plastic tubes. The session concluded with a sandhopper hunt. We only found three!

The samples collected at the rocky and sandy shores were taken to a laboratory at the nearby Instituto Politecnico de Viana do Castelo for examination in the afternoon. Unlike day 1 those involved in the workshop had the opportunity to see the enthusiasm shown by the students whilst examining the samples. They also demonstrated great team work, with students from different countries working together.

The Spring School was concluded with a meeting of all the participants to gauge opinion on what they thought of the Spring School experience, what they liked, disliked and what improvements could be made for the next one. The feedback was excellent with all students agreeing it was a worthwhile experience. There was an interesting debate on which students should attend a future Spring/Summer school. Science students would be the obvious choice but should opportunities be given to, for example, art students who won't normally have the opportunity to study the marine environment?

Spring School gallery

We are currently looking for photos, images and comments for a Spring School gallery.