The 5th meeting was different, due to the pandemic situation, the meeting was held in webinar mode so that everyone could participate safely. This meeting took place on 16 October at 4 pm in Lisbon (UTC+01:00) via videoconference.
This meeting was scheduled to take place in the Azores archipelago so, as in previous years, it had the participation of guest speakers from the Azores. The theme was Ocean literacy. The conference also had space for all participants to put their questions in writing in the chat. At the end of the meeting, Medusa d’Ouro prizes were awarded, with special attention to observers from the Azores.
This 4th meeting brought together observers and scientists in Funchal between the 23rd and 24th of November and had the collaboration of the Funchal Marine Biology Station and the Canadian Embassy in Lisbon. Once again, the meeting began, addressing the GelAvista program and presenting the most recent data on gelatinous species occurring in Portugal.
Followed by presentations by guest speakers: Peter Ross, from Ocean Wise (Canada), who spoke about microplastic pollution in the oceans; Sonia Gueroun, from the GoGelly project, who presented a bibliographic collection on jellyfish in Macaronesia; and Mafalda Freitas (GelAvista Madeira) who presented data on the abundance of jellyfish in the last 5 years for the Madeira archipelago. At the end of the meeting, our observers Álvaro Palricas (Madeira), Associação Predominante Azul (Ericeira lifeguard team) and Catarina Soares (Torres Vedras) received the Medusa d’Ouro award.
On December 1st, another annual meeting of the GelAvista program took place, this time in Faro with the collaboration of the University of Algarve and, as always, with the participation of our observers. As usual, the meeting began with a presentation of the GelAvista program, explaining what it consists of and its objectives, making known the information collected so far and addressing good observational practices.
It also had the participation of 3 guest speakers: Alexandra Teodósio (UAlg), who explained the importance of jellyfish in marine ecosystems; Rita Domingues (UAlg), exhibited on what will motivate citizens to participate in citizen science projects and Mafalda Freitas (GelAvista Madeira), presented the results of 5 years of monitoring of Pelagia noctiluca in the Madeira archipelago. At the end, the Medusa d’Ouro was presented: to the observer from Algarve, Rui Filipe and Guilherme Santos from Costa da Caparica.
On December 16th, the 2nd GelAvista meeting took place at IPMA Algés. Once again, we had the opportunity to share with our observers the results obtained so far, as well as some of the work that has been developed as a result of this program. It was with great pleasure that we had the presence of several of our observers, guest Ana Pereira from Ispa Instituto Universitário, 3 Golden Medusas and a special four-legged observer, Ponga.
Many thanks to everyone who joined us for this meeting, and to all those who contribute to this program!
