Codes of behaviour in marine protected areas

Codes of behaviour in marine protected areas
All the species have their roles in nature, particularly in sensitive areas like national parks and nature parks. An animal or a plant you might stumble upon during your strolls, swimming or diving might be the last one of its kind. Therefore it is essential to show responsible behaviour in nature in order to preserve these pearls of the Mediterranean – while taking into consideration the fact that in the protected areas, besides respecting the regular sea behaviour codex, one should also follow some additional rules:
*Do not pick, disturb or destroy plants.
*Do not damage or take away any mineral or cave structures.
*Camping outside camping zone boundaries is prohibited.
*Do not light an open fire.
*Do not throw litter into nature; it takes 450 years for a plastic bottle to dissolve on land and in the sea.
*Do not throw around cigarette butts.
*Do not destroy, damage or take away items from archaeological sites (on the ground and at sea), the remaining of different cultures and cultural monuments.
*Do not disturb animals, if you go diving, please behave responsibly. If the situation allows. Please berth your vessel instead of anchoring it, make sure you do not anchor on possidonia meadows.
*While diving makes sure you do not damage or disturb marine organisms – leave the sea only with what you took before taking a dive.
It is far more difficult to preserve a certain area than to proclaim it a protected area: proclaiming it is just a first step – but the effective protection comes to a result of creating and implementing management plans. Therefore it is unbelievable that marine protected areas in Croatia have not had these plans so far, although National Park Mljet was proclaimed marine protected area back in 1960. But this problem has not struck only Croatia, therefore under the guidance of WWF (world wildlife fund) in 2008 project, MedPAN South was launched. In the territory of the Republic of Croatia, this project has been coordinated by Association for Nature, Environment and Sustainable Development Sunce from Split. The activities of these associations are primarily directed towards supporting public institutions, involved in this project, in managing marine protected areas, enhancement of the existing outline of the management plans and goals.