The Estrella de Levante Foundation celebrates its third anniversary spearheading Mar Menor improvement projects
The removal of 20 tonnes of waste from the Mar Menor saltwater lagoon, in collaboration with the Cofradía de Pescadores de San Pedro del Pinatar (Fishermen’s Guild of San Pedro del Pinatar), was one of the main milestones achieved
Ramon Agenjo, chair of the Estrella de Levante Foundation, and Juan María Vázquez, advisor on Environment, Universities, Research and Mar Menor of the Murcia Region, visited the different Mar Menor projects in which the Murcia-based entity is involved. They were accompanied by Juan Antonio López Abadía, Juana Sánchez and Yayo Delgado, officers responsible for the Environment, Social Action, and Culture and Traditions areas of the Estrella de Levante Foundation, respectively, as well as Álex Galí, the Foundation’s manager.
During this outing, the retinue visited the Tomás Ferro de Cartagena Agri-Food Experimental Station, where a test of barley cultivation as a green filter is being conducted together with the Polytechnic University of Cartagena; the Marchamalo Salt Flats, which are being worked on to restore their environmental and productive activity; the Fishermen’s Guild of San Pedro del Pinatar, together with which Mar Menor seabed clean-up efforts are being carried out; and, finally, the facilities of the Spanish Oceanographic Institute (IEO, in Spanish), with which the Foundation partners in the RemediOS project aimed at restoring Mar Menor’s oyster populations in order to improve the environmental quality of the lagoon’s waters.
During the outing the chair of the Estrella de Levante Foundation, Ramon Agenjo, stated that “since the birth of the foundation we have wanted to support and promote those initiatives aimed at improving the environmental situation of our zone of influence, such as the Levante region and especially Mar Menor.” Agenjo wished to highlight the important work done by the Murcia company through partnerships and mobilisations to resolve this situation.
For his part, the advisor on Environment, Universities, Research and Mar Menor, Juan María Vázquez, wished to stress “the importance of the teamwork between the public entities and private entities of the Murcia Region in their battle against a common enemy, namely the degradation of the Mar Menor lagoon.” 
Social inclusion through the hospitality industry
The retinue also visited the Escuela de Hostelería eh!, a project spearheaded by Cáritas to support the social and labour inclusion of people in vulnerable situations through professional training in the catering field. The Cáritas Hospitality School has trained 1,200 students and during these seven years has maintained an employee retention rate of over 90 percent.
