Costa Brava town launches project to promote seahorse awareness 

In L'Estartit, a small town on the Costa Brava near the Medes Islands, the Association of Dive Centers has partnered with other local organizations to advance research on seahorses and increase awareness of the little-known species.

The project, Cavallets de L'Estartit, was born out of a chance discovery that revealed many seahorses in the area live and feed in artificial habitats that were installed by fishermen to promote cuttlefish egg-laying.

Despite their status as a protected marine species, researching them is often a challenge as they are difficult to find. 

"They go unnoticed, sometimes you see one or two, but one year you do and another you don't," said Boris Weitzmann, one of the scientific leaders of the Cavallets de L'Estartit project.

Researchers have teamed up with local divers to study seahorses over 25 pilot trips, setting up a platform to organize the collected data and establishing protocols for good practice. 

The project has three objectives: collect scientific data, promote conservation of these species, and offer a new diving attraction that takes pressure off the Medes Islands. However, organizers of the project emphasize that they want to promote respect and avoid "overexploitation of a new resource."

The cuttlefish habitats where the pilot tests were carried out are located in L'Estartit and the bay of Pals. There are around fifty of them, installed at an easily-diveable depth of between six and eight metres. 

According to Weitzmann, the project leaders plan to move the habitats inside the protection limits of the Medes Islands Natural Park. They are also exploring whether the initiative can be expanded to other parts of the coast such as Roses and Palamós.