First Primošten Eco Festival Unites Divers to Clean Adriatic Seabed

The news in Croatian

1. ronilac  (m.)
   Osoba koja zaranja pod vodu koristeći opremu za disanje. ↩︎
2. volonter  (m.)
   Osoba koja dobrovoljno i besplatno pomaže u nekoj aktivnosti ili organizaciji. ↩︎
3. mreža  (f.)
   Naprava od isprepletenih niti ili žica koja se koristi za hvatanje riba. ↩︎
4. oprema  (f.)
   Skup alata, uređaja ili predmeta potrebnih za obavljanje neke aktivnosti. ↩︎
5. kornjača  (f.)
   Životinja s tvrdim oklopom na leđima koja živi u moru ili na kopnu. ↩︎
6. radionica  (f.)
   Organizirani skup ili tečaj na kojemu se praktično uči o nekoj temi. ↩︎

Translation

Text comprehension

Question 1: How many divers and volunteers took part in the Eco Festival?

Question 2: What did the participants collect from the seabed?

Vocabulary

Croatian	English
ronilac  (m.)	diver
volonter  (m.)	volunteer
mreža  (f.)	net
oprema  (f.)	equipment
kornjača  (f.)	turtle
radionica  (f.)	workshop

Read the full story

The first Primošten Eco Festival took place last weekend in the coastal town of Primošten, organised by the diving centre Pongo d.o.o. with the support of the Primošten municipality, the local tourist board, and Hotel Zora.

More than 130 divers, joined by volunteers on land, cleaned several locations across the Primošten archipelago, including the seabed in front of the Old and New Riva, the shore and seabed near the former hotel BILO, Dolac, and the Raduča site near the diving centre. A particular focus was placed on abandoned diving equipment and so-called ghost nets — lost or discarded fishing nets and traps that continue catching marine life long after being abandoned.

Ghost nets pose a serious threat to sea creatures including fish, sea turtles, dolphins, and sharks. Because they are made from synthetic materials, they break down very slowly and release microplastics into the sea over time. Festival organiser and Pongo owner Borko Pusić used an educational workshop on abandoned fishing gear to express his wish to contact local fishermen and offer help retrieving nets and fishing equipment from the seabed.

Alongside the clean-up, the festival offered a range of workshops. The association Sunce ran an interactive session called