In addition to promoting diving, diving tourism and Croatia as a diving and tourist destination, the goal was to encourage as many people as possible to engage in sports and water activities and to include young people in promotional, educational and environmental programs. The focus of the festival was on the importance of protecting the seabed, creating a diving zone, a destination where you will not fish, but only take photos and have sea life in the lens, that fascinating flora and fauna that abounds in our seabed. The plan is to have an area exclusively for diving! There is also the wreck of the Greek ship "Vassilios", which sank in 1939 on the way to Venice loaded with coal. Its bow is at a depth of 22 meters, and the stern at 55 meters, so this monstrosity of 105 meters is a great destination for all lovers of life below the surface.
When you protect the zone from overfishing and only limit it to diver visits, in a year, no later than two fish will eat out of your hand. And this phenomenon is hard to describe if you haven't had the opportunity to dive and enjoy below the surface, to discover this new medium - says Franco Banfi, the world's most famous underwater photographer, who, like 11 other top "sea" photographers, dived for two days as part of the festival. They filmed, studied the area of Cape Stupišće, in front of Komiža, which wants to be declared as a no take zone.
All the guests and locals who had the opportunity to see the photos on the video projection on the canvas placed on the Venetian tower Komuna, at the end of the waterfront, with printed photos along the entire pier - just complimented the motifs on them and they felt for a moment as if they too had dived to the bottom of the sea.
In order to promote diving, diving activities and the beauty of the Adriatic underwater world, free trial dives with full diving equipment in a 10-meter pool, a meter depth and with 80 cubic meters of sea water were provided. More than 250 visitors took advantage of this opportunity.
The association "Sunce" also held an education for children about the sea, while JU RERA S.D. presented another project, related to the Mediterranean diet, so certificates were awarded for innovative solutions of modern food products based on indigenous products.
Fishing was also organized for children up to 15 years of age. They sailed to the sea in falkuša - traditional boats of their fishermen ancestors. 16 children fished with fishing rods, for bait they chose fresh sardines and squid, and they did not take out the fish. Everything was done according to the system of preservation of marine flora and fauna, according to the system of catch and release.
Beauty, fascinating, top notch, we haven’t seen this anywhere but just here, so every part of the project is amazing. We don't know if you have a more beautiful underwater world, tastier food, more hospitable people, beautiful nature that carved every stone, every bay, a lot of historical stories, important people... We were left speechless in these three days of the festival in Komiža, because we are delighted, and what you offer on land, and especially what is under the sea! - commented our Italian project partners.
It is enough to say how successful the entire ADRIREEF festival was, both on land and under the sea - everyone, both younger and older generations asked whether the ADRIREEF will be organized next year as well.
