Pharos Institute and Hvar High School Preparation of Bonj Marine Research Lab

21.4.26: Pharos Institute and Hvar High School students opened the season April 18th with a spring cleaning and preparation of Bonj Laboratory space for its eighteen month project, ‘Eating Our Way Out of Crisis’ Invasive Species project generously supported by the Dalmatian Islands Environmental Foundation (DIEF).

The Bonj Space, provided by the Stari Grad Communal to Hvar High School for the Pharos Institute Environmental Studies programming got a new coat of paint and cleaning as the team waits for more equipment to arrive.  

Efforts are underway to set up the lab space for the project’s first phase mapping, cataloguing and genotype sequencing of five prioritized invasive species including the lionfish. 

The mapping will be publicly available through a specifically designed web-based data base as part of efforts to build awareness of the problem and work with communities to socialize the gastronomic use of these invasive species present as a method of mitigation and conservation of the Hvar coastal waters.

Pharos Institute Environmental Studies Department in cooperation with Boz Life Science Research & Teaching Institute (San Diego, CA) has big plans for the summer months to operationalize the lab space for this project and  further sea ecology research with Hvar High School students and several international students as part of its efforts to build up a STEM-based island program in the Bonj Lab Space.   Initial research efforts include sea water quality assessment via analytical chemistry  and mussel bioaccumulation study (ongoing project), invasive species management, genome sequencing and regenerative biology  of the giant bristle worm, effects of posedonia sea grasses distribution and density on marine benthic biodiversity, and stratified upper-pelagic (first 50m) sea temperature variation.   Stay tuned for further progress and information on the Invasive Species mapping and other efforts.