BlueForesting project was present at CIIMAR’s Open Day, spreading the importance of protecting marine forests and other benthic ecosystems with a talk by the researcher Marina Dolbeth and hands-on activities by the whole CIIMAR team. We exemplified some of the tools used in the project to monitor the Marine Forest species, and highlighted their ecological relevance and importance for our own well-being.

Over 20000 people of all ages were present that day with curious questions and interest in our project and its methods. We also invited the public to identify Marine Forests distribution along the North Coast of Portugal! Several of the Northern areas known to have Marine Forests were identified, and we are keen to update this information with BlueForesting results.