Marine Education Centre

Run by the Blue World/Plavi Svijet Institute, the Marine Education Centre promotes conservation issues throughout the Croatian Adriatic, with particular reference to the bottlenose dolphin colony off  the Lošinj coast. An attractive display introduces the world of the dolphin and the importance of protecting it. Visitors are shown a short film (with English subtitles), dioramas, and computer graphics. An 'acoustic room' demonstrates how dolphins communicate, and also how easily they can be disturbed by the rumble of boat engines. The MEC does not recommend dolphin trips (the whole point of the operation is to protect the dolphins as wild creatures, not disturb them or tame them), but it does have an important role in educating local boat captains how to respect dolphins when out on the water.  Visitors who want to get involved in dolphin conservation can become a godfather or godmother to a dolphin for one year (from 300kn). EU funding will enable the Centre to expand its activities and move to a much bigger, purpose-built visitors' centre in Mali Lošinj harbor some time after 2014. The MEC is also becoming more and more involved in the conservation of sea turtles, who inhabit the sandy shallows of the Kvarner Gulf. July 2013 will see the opening of a sea-turtle rescue centre on the Čikat peninsula, right between the Aurora and Vespera hotels. Here, sick turtles will be kept in tanks until they're healthy enough to be set free (previously, poorly turtles had to be sent all the way to Pula on the Istrian mainland).