This project is mainly educational focused and several aspects of animal biology and their marine habitats will be approached. A direct contact with the marine world, both above and under the surface is the way to recognize the importance of marine habitats conservation and to expect changes in mentality.

This idea comes in the sequence of a research program for the study and conservation of coastal cetaceans in the area. Portugal mainland has a coastline of about 832 km with several important oceanographic and topographic features and, in this particular region, a cetacean biodiversity which has never been a continuous and long term study object. Being aware of dolphins’ diversity and abundance in a coastal area with a high anthropogenic influence brought the relevance of a proper environmental educational program, to exist in parallel with the scientific investigation.

The primary goal of this project is to develop an ecological mentality in children and awareness for the need of nature preservation. The area of this project is inside a marine reserve, the Parque Marinho Luiz Saldanha, which will allow providing a lot of scientific/natural information in real time. Our due is to teach about the more important species in this area, from crustaceans to dolphins, and how their ecosystem can be studied and monitored. We want to promote some marine education in children by an environmentally focused project in a place where some conservation measures as already been done but the monitoring of the humans activities is constantly need. Only with monitoring survey of the study area we can be more alert for necessary conservation measures.

Boat trips with and educational purpose will be conducted, with children, from the schools of Lisbon and adjacent areas. Being our public target between 6 and 12 years old, the activity consists in a boat trip of 3 hours, with observation of oceanic dolphins in coastal habitats and an activity of snorkel in a small beach. With this we are attempting to promote a direct interaction between children and the marine environment and show them a natural world which usually they do not contact with.

This interaction is not only the visual contact at the moment when the participants see the dolphins or a school of fish, but also when they listen about and experience all the procedures implemented on a scientific study. The children, and of course adapted to their ages, will be in contact with GPS instrument, binoculars, data sheets, snorkel and mask, field guides of marine species, among other equipment and materials. We assume that this tight contact with science methodology can lead to more respecting actions with the environment and nature. In the final of the trip it will be delivered a catalogue with information about marine ecosystem and the animals’ habitat.

This project will have a great environmental benefit once we are working with children and they are the basis of environmental education. We will focus on the marine habitat but all the information provided can be practice in other areas by increasing their ecological attention and interest. We consider that it’s urgent a change in the mentalities of the people, namely inside the populations that live near shore, and that change just can be done if citizens have some knowledge about the natural life and its components.

The project area in which will happened the boat trips is Sesimbra, an old fishery region, where all the persons have a strong relation with the sea and the marine animals. Through the time this relation has always been mainly a hunting-prey relation without much care about the natural habits of each species. An intense fishery activity not only focussed on fishes but also on cetaceans, during the first half of the 20th century, has done of this village an interesting economic and cultural place. On the other hand, from the second half of the last century forward, Sesimbra became an important tourist spot, to where persons of a lot of countries arrive for diving, beaching and eating good fish.
Considering all of these aspects it is necessary to complement these activities with strong environmental and conservationist approaches. Knowledge of the biology of species and ecosystems as well as conservation measures to adopt daily is truly important for a village that lives to and from the sea.

Although it is not our first goal, all the boat trips will consist as boat based surveys to observe cetaceans and all the data provided from this project will be considered scientific data and will be analysed and integrated in our long term study of coastal dolphins off Portugal mainland. This project is especially relevant and integrated in other studies and other conservation measures, including several species of fishes, benthic organisms and algaes, because it is included in a very recent but extremely important marine reserve, Marine Reserve Prof. Luiz Saldanha (Sesimbra). Takes place during 2009.