Today, we celebrate World Wildlife Day, focusing on funding their conservation. It is fitting that today we received the news that the LIFE project "Pinna nobilis conservation and restoration," in which Aquarium Pula is one of the partners, has passed the call for funding by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), announcing the financing of the project’s activities for 50 months.

This project will involve a range of experts from Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, and Croatia, who will exchange their rich knowledge and experience on the topic of reproductive efforts of the noble pen shell, in order to achieve the common goal – preserving the noble pen shell (Pinna nobilis) from extinction. Aquarium Pula has been working on keeping the pen shells alive in its facilities since 2019. Initially, we financed this ourselves, and since 2020, we have been part of the national project "Conservation of the Noble Pen Shell (Pinna nobilis) in the Adriatic Sea," with 23 other partners, which will continue through this year. The oldest resident of our "Noble Refuge" is Morana, who arrived on December 1, 2021. In the fall of 2024, no juvenile pen shells were found on the collectors, and the number of living adult pen shells in the Adriatic is approximately 15.

For those who want to learn more about World Wildlife Day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPEDvG66cXM&t=3s; https://wildlifeday.org/en.