“The Wildsea Atlantic Ocean Heritage Route: dive into adventure (WAOH)” project has developed the first European route of sustainable diving, connecting the best diving places along the Atlantic European coast between Portugal and Ireland. This project has had the finance from the European Agency for the European Charter for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) of the European Commission.

How have we done it?

Along these two years, and as a partner of the WAOH project, SUBMON has developed a series of training materials related to sustainable marine tourism activities. More specifically, a guide for boat maintenance, a manual for guides who wants to contribute to marine conservation, and a guide for good practices for kayak activities have been produced.

During the WAOH project other materials has also been designed, as a postcards for clients who does kayak, diving or snorkel activities and a while watching guide for good practises and a list of the most common species you can see along the WAOH route. All materials have been produced in Spanish, English and Portuguese, the official languages of the project partners.

In addition to the production of training materials, on-site training sessions have been done for the tour operators who offers marine activities in all the partners’ destinations: Portimao, Lisboa-Cascais-Sesimbra, Galicia, Cornualles and Donegal. In total, 152 tour operators have been reached in these 5 destinations. We have given to them a series of good practises for their activities, general information about Natura 2000 marine areas, the common species of the zone and tips about how to sensitize their clients about the importance of preserving the Ocean. Furthermore, on-site sessions have been done to implement the knowledge in real situations.

During these visits, we had talked with tourism and environmental managers in order to inform them about the WAOH project and work together in an action plan which helps operators to be more sustainable.

Finally, included in the project, we have produced short videos that explain good practises for while watching or diving, and how to dive with a dry suit, essential if anyone wants to dive in the European Atlantic Ocean.