The Cousteau Foundation will establish its headquarters in L’Estartit.

The Cousteau Foundation will establish its headquarters in L’Estartit.

• Some land has been acquired in the area of the playground at the entrance to the town.
• The City Council and the Mascort Foundation have intervened in the negotiations.
• It had initially been considered in Cadaqués.

The world headquarters of the Philippe Cousteau Union of the Oceans Foundation will not be in Cadaqués or in Asturias, as was initially planned. It will be implemented in l’Estartit, after the entity has acquired some land at the entrance of town, in an area where there is a playground. The price of the operation, according to some sources, could be around 3 million euros. The start of the project is now completely official. Invitations have even been issued with the utmost discretion for the staging, which will take place next February 28th in the auditorium of the Museu de la Mediterrània, in Torroella. The first patron of the foundation, Jean Paul Cousteau, will be present at the event.

The second option.

It was not the first space that the foundation had been looking at in the municipality. At first they had been interested in an 0ld hotel in the center. Although the negotiations were practically closed -only the signature was missing- the two parties did not agree on the final price.

The implementation of this first-rate equipment will represent an important boost for the municipality, but also for the foundation itself in an area next to the Mediterranean; the first option was Cadaqués, basically because of the emotional implications of some of its members, who reside there, but the negotiations did not prosper. L’Estartit, with its port, is ideal for the submarine and other equipment available to the entity.

The initial project.

To get an idea of the magnitude of the project that had been planned in Cadaqués, and which will now obviously change once it is done in L’Estartit, water control laboratories were set up to analyze the pollution of ports or large aquariums. One of the most spectacular parts will be that of several marine water aquariums to work on the conservation and reintroduction of species that are in danger. The capacity had to exceed 22.000 liters, with fifteen aquariums of between 10, 100 and 200 liters of capacity, in the basement of the center. There will also be a marine biology laboratory. On the upper floor there will be the water control laboratory to analyze the main ports of Europe, this one in charge of the company Freegata Space -there is no mention of the project in its plan either. Unió Joint Observatory of Sustainable Development Objectives for the Mediterranean Basin.

SOURCE Text and Photo: https://www.elpuntavui.cat/societat/article/5-societat/2258194-la-fundacio-cousteau-establira-la-seu-de-l-entitat-a-l-estartit.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=botons&utm_campaign=com_epanoticies&fbclid=IwAR095XjyItwBXYY42TqeIcwOCQPToB8_pM5hYKQ58_UiG1NL3IlIkFe3hBc