Be bold together with us and save the last dolphins by creating the DOLPHIN EDUCATION CENTRE (DEC)!

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Choose your donation level by selecting the amount:

DOLPHIN EDUCATION CENTRE

* please do not be disturbed, by seeing the “Buy Now” button above.

With PayPal, the donation button has no option in defining the donation levels. To show them all, we would have to place 8 different buttons, which would be too annoying. Thank you for your understanding!

To show a gratitude to your generosity, each donation class brings you a certain ‘thank you level‘:

VIVAMAR gratitude levels:

When you donate $10: Your name will be permanently listed in a public Thank-You-Book in the DEC as a contributor to it’s establishment.

When you donate $25: You will get a bronze Vivamar certificate. Your name will be visible in a public Thank-You-Book in the DEC among other bronze donors.

When you donate $50: You will receive a silver certificate for your contribution to the DEC! Your name will be listed among silver donators in the Thank-You-Book of the DEC.

When you donate $100: You will get an Ambassador of Dolphins T-shirt with the Vivamar logo and a golden member certificate from Vivamar. Your name will also be listed in our Thank-You-Book with other golden certificate holders.

When you donate $300: You will be invited to stay with a friend in the DEC for one night in April or October. Your platinum certificate will enable you to fully enjoy the old part of Rovinj, known as one of the most beautiful towns in the Adriatic. You will be a part of the platinum certificate members club and your name will be listed in our Thank-You-Book with older platinum members. Additionally, you will receive a T-shirt with the Vivamar logo.

When you donate $700: You will receive “The Vivamar Experience”. Join us for one day on our research boat and get a once in a lifetime, hands-on experience with the bottlenose dolphins of the beautiful Adriatic Sea. You will receive a diamond certificate and your name will be listed in our public Thank-You-Book, which can be seen in the DEC and online on our website.

When you donate $1000:

In addition to “The Vivamar Experience” where you will be able to spend the day with our research team to see the wild dolphins, you will have the honor of naming one of the 150 dolphins in our catalogue. Join us on our research boat and get a once in a lifetime, hands-on experience with the bottlenose dolphins of the beautiful Adriatic Sea. You will receive a diamond certificate and your name will be listed in our public Thank-You-Book, which can be seen in the DEC and online on our website.

And FINALLY, in case you donate $1500:

You will receive the “Ultimate Vivamar Experience” in addition to getting “The Vivamar Exeprience”, your name will be displayed on the “Wall of Fame” in the DEC as a sign of our gratitude. At the same time you will be listed in our public Thank-You-Book. We will also advertise a link to your company on our website, if applicable, and you will receive a T-shirt with the Vivamar logo.

Istria is one of the most popular tourist regions in the northern Mediterranean / Adriatic area; however, there is no platform to disseminate scientifically-based data regarding the impact of anthropogenic pressures on the dolphins. To facilitate this measure, Vivamar’s goal is to create a public and scientifically supported DEC. We work hard day in and day out to create research and action plans to help mitigate some of the negative side effects of the nautical and fishing industries. Ultimately, our goal is to work harmoniously with the industries so that the Croatian, Slovenian, and Italian economies can thrive but also maintain balance in the ecosystems. If we can set up our Dolphin Education Center (we need your help!), we will be able to post up right at the source of some of the biggest issues to work directly with the public, fishermen, and local authorities to ensure that every person is doing what they can to respect the marine life and improve the condition of our sea while minimizing negative impacts. The more we can reach out to people and raise awareness about the importance of a healthy sea, the better we can ensure that our dolphins are able to sustain healthy populations over the next generations. The Dolphin Education Center is an absolutely critical place for all of this to happen.

We’ve got an ambitious plan for our Dolphin Education Center and have categorized it into three important chunks:

1) Raise Awareness

Since its establishment in 2002, Vivamar has been dedicated to community outreach: we collaborate with local schools and youth associations by organizing presentations about dolphins and hosting summer events such as Dolphin Day.
We will host educational outreach programs, broaden our collaborations to well-established Youth Associations from Slovenia and Croatia for informative lectures and exhibitions, increase global participation in UN World Oceans Day, continue supporting Japan Dolphin Day, and engage with the local community using the DEC as a space for galleries and exhibits about the dolphin population and other marine vertebrates.

2) Education for Ecologically Sound Economic Growth

Vivamar’s research and education activities have shown that a more effective outreach location is needed to regulate and start tackling the negative anthropogenic factors that affect the already threatened marine mammals in this otherwise beautiful area.

In the DEC, we will provide certified courses for the dolphin watching industry to educate stakeholders on respecting guidelines and the importance of the local dolphin population on the Adriatic ecosystem. This will ensure that sustainable and environmentally safe tourism is economically incentivized, offering the best possible outcome for dolphins and sustainable local community development.

We will educate nautical tourists on dolphin behavior, ecology, and tips for safe sightings, and give recommendations for certified dolphin watching excursions.

3) Research

Vivamar’s integrative team collaborates with students, volunteers, and universities around the world. The research focuses on the relationships, group sizes, compositions and population dynamics of the Istrian dolphin population. We also collaborate on other important projects regarding large marine vertebrates including sharks and sea turtles. We obtain scientific data about unregulated nautical tourism as well as the fishing industry to report the potential negative influence on the dolphin community during encounters.

We will create a research haven for students and volunteers in the DEC, continue to expand collaborations with universities and European marine projects, and investigate interactions between dolphins and fisheries to assess problems associated with declined dolphin feeding areas and damaged netting gear.

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