‘The return of the Pinna Nobilis’

Team 8 of the UNICEF – UPSHIFT workshop from Croatia, the city of Šibenik, has been implementing the project ‘The return of the Pinna Nobilis’. On the occasion of World Oceans Day, the Osmijeh kindergarten screened the animated film ‘Mala Periska’ by Lucija Zmijanovic. On June 7, a diving check and mapping will be carried out in the waters of the island of Prvic.

Pinna nobilis is a long-lived Mediterranean endemic species, considered one of the biggest bivalve molluscs in the Mediterranean Sea. Pinna nobilis plays a key ecological role by filtering water and retaining large amounts of organic matter from suspended detritus contributing to water clarity. Its uniqueness attracts many scuba-divers across the Mediterranean. A mass mortality event affecting Pinna nobilis populations was first detected in 2016 along the Spanish coast. Currently the ongoing pathogen-caused mass mortality outbreak is the most worrying and widespread threat to Pinna nobilis throughout the Mediterranean Sea. Information on the continuous monitoring of the species will be essential to evaluate its potential for future recovery, not only in the sites where the species has survived, but also where it has recently disappeared in order to evaluate the recovery potential of the species in the future.