The Palma Aquarium Foundation
- By
Blaire Dessent
The Palma Aquarium Foundation
Sep 2, 2024
by
Blaire Dessent
The Palma Aquarium Foundation
Sep 2, 2024
by
Blaire Dessent
The Palma Aquarium Foundation
- By
Blaire Dessent
The Palma Aquarium Foundation
- By
Blaire Dessent
The Palma Aquarium Foundation
- By
Blaire Dessent
Sea Turtle in rehabilitation
E

arly on a warm summer morning, people were eagerly lining up to enter Palma Aquarium, a treasure in Mallorca, open 365 days a year, where marine life and sea animals are displayed, along with a program of engaging educational activities, amaze and delight all ages. But what many don’t realise, is that in addition to the aquarium, is the Palma Aquarium Foundation or Fundación Palma Aquarium, the official recovery and rescue centre for sharks, cetaceans and sea turtles of the Balearic Islands.

Officially established in 2016, the foundation has become a critical partner among Spanish and European organisations that are dedicated to conserving the seas. The small team, led by Debora Morrison, who, for 18 years has worked at the aquarium and then with the foundation, is working not only to expand awareness and engage the community through educational activities such as beach cleans or the importance of Posidonia (Neptune sea grass) in the Mediterranean, but they are developing essential programs and infrastructure to preserve sea life.

Sea turtles are a main part of their rescue and recovery efforts across the Balearics. The turtle species Caretta Caretta, (loggerhead sea turtle) which travels from the Atlantic and into the Mediterranean to feed and nest, needs significant strength to return against the current back out into the ocean. Nests and eggs can often be destroyed or looted onshore, while baby turtles are not big enough to survive the return swim. One of the main culprits is plastic and nets which the turtles get caught up in and can’t get out of. If the foundation receives a message about a turtle in need anywhere across the Balearics, the team goes out to rescue it. In the foundation’s facilities, which are set in a garage-like underground space filled with tanks and laboratories, they were recently helping several turtles, including a very large turtle whose shell was damaged by a boat propeller, to tinier species who had been stuck in plastic and unable to swim. Once they are properly rehabilitated, they are released back into the sea. 

Xisca Pujol working helping a sea turtle
The team releases a rehabilitated sea turtle

Another important project is the breeding in an artificially controlled environment of vulnerable species to reinforce the wild population of these species. In these projects, the foundation can obtain offspring that would be genetically viable, as the parents are wild specimens. This practice is called by-catch. The foundation first initiated this project with a species of nursehound shark that has had a high success rate, and more recently, two years ago, with seahorses. As Morrison explains, “We have a campaign with the fisherman who, when they catch the seahorses in their nets, they call us and we bring them in; we found a female and male to obtain babies and when the babies are a certain size, they are released into the wild. It is really important that we know they are from these waters, so as to maintain the gene pool.” It took a while to find the seahorses initially, because there were hardly any there. The population has drastically been reduced over the past 20 years.

For each project like this, the foundation must raise funds to support each step of the process – from administrative work to the infrastructure that will house and feed the animals. The nursehound shark program was underwritten by eight various entities and for the seahorses, they received funding for the entire project from Banca March. Part of this funding included creating a lab to cultivate plankton in order to feed the baby seahorses, which need to feed on live prey. Soon, they will undertake a breeding project with pipefish. While the realities are that many of the seahorses will not survive before being set free, as the survival rate is very low the genetic information and research, including tissue samples, accumulated during the process is invaluable for the foundation and shared networks to further develop their knowledge and awareness of the species. Seahorses have coincidentally become a species that many others are focused on right now because of their vulnerability, making the foundation a critical partner.

While 90% of the foundation’s focus is on the environment, 10% is social. A new volunteer program, called ‘Senior Marines’, and supported by CaixaBank, is centred on working with older or ‘veteran’ volunteers, typically retired people, who have the time and inclination to devote themselves to the project. They receive training and uniforms, and, as Morrison notes, “they have found a lot of success with this program.” 

"We have a campaign with the fisherman who, when they catch the seahorses in their nets, they call us and we bring them in; we found a female and male to obtain babies and when the babies are a certain size, they are released into the wild. "
Photo by Hector Gago
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