SEa Sanctuary and animal rescue center
An international story of excellence, working together with scientists and experts in the field, in order to share knowledge and experiences with similar initiatives.
The Location
On the Azores, the common spirit and daily lives of inhabitants are connected to nature and characterized by great respect towards wildlife and their ecosystem.
The Azores, being located in the Atlantic Ocean, have an ideal temperature and overall climate for dolphins of tropical and sub-tropical regions, like the captive population of dolphins held in European Marine parks. In the wild, this species can be seen throughout the whole year. The Azores provide ideal conditions for the animals to be rehabilitated again to their natural environment.
The Azores are logistically well placed, being midway between the final destination for release in the Caribbean and the animal’s current locations on continental Europe.
Taking into account the quality of the seawater (e.g. E coli, mercury, etc), noise pollution and the need for an airport with runway conformity Code E, the island Terceira is a perfect match.
Facilities and Construction
The center will consist of a lagoon with sea pens of various sizes, several indoor medical pools and a turtle hospital
The medical pools are indoor and operate on a closed system. They provide controlled isolation from the Sea Sanctuary and will be used for quarantining new animals, medical isolation and other veterinary reasons.
The sea pens are dedicated sea pools where the dolphins will be exposed to the marine environment. The pens provide a sense of the conditions in the Sanctuary and retain some level of control. They will be used for acclimation, observation, and general holding.
The pens will be sized to suit depending on quantities and group composition in the final Sanctuary plan and will be constructed from high tensile netting fixed to the sea floor.
Where are we now
After initial positive communication with the Azorean and Portuguese Authorities we have handed in all documents for the realisation of the project.
If we get a green light from the Authorities we can proceed with the next steps. These include the launch of the crowd funding campaign, application for subsidies and attracting investors.
Once the final destination is known, we can start with the permit applications for the construction phase, the environmental impact assessment and issuing a tender to assign a contractor for the design of the construction.