Ashdod and the dolphins

Not many people know, but in front of the beautiful beaches of the city of Ashdod, there is a permanent population of dolphins, especially a common dolphin, which is in serious danger of extinction. This fact, in addition to the dizzying success of the educational activity in the city of the Delphis association, led to the establishment ofThe Dolphin and the Sea Center - The unique educational center of the association - in 2016.

The center was established within the Ort-Ashdod School for Naval Officers in cooperation with the Port of Ashdod and with the assistance of the Ashdod Municipality and the Union of Cities for the Environment of the Yavneh-Ashdod region, on the southern bank of the Lakish stream, near the ecological park.

Ashdod was in fact the first city to support the educational activities of the association, back in 2009, and from then until today the municipality supports the activity continuously, with the goal that all the children of the city will get to know in depth and know about the marine environment and its inhabitants, with the goal that the knowledge will promote an emotional connection to the local urban nature and lead the students to take action for Environmental protection.

In the last year, the educational activities of Delphis were recognized by the Ministry of Education, and are currently offered to schools throughout the country through the GFN system.

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Since its inception, the Dolphin and Sea Center has hosted close to 30,000 visitors from Israel and the world, who learned about the story of the Israeli dolphin, the rich ecosystem of the Mediterranean and the human impact on it. The center went through (and is still going through) quite a few upheavals - during the Corona period, when the center's activities were stopped altogether, the Delfis association received, among other things, the support of the Ashdod municipality. Support thanks to which she was able to overcome the difficult period in the end. Then a war of iron swords broke out, and the ground dropped beneath us again. The Israeli government froze the budgets that support activities for the environment and for the animals, and diverted the necessary budgets at this time for the benefit of the war and the rehabilitation of the victims. In addition, research was stopped, educational programs were shelved and the center's activities were stopped altogether due to the continuous rocket fire on the city - the center's home. As of today, and as long as it is not possible to hold a physical activity in the educational center, the staff of the center and the association continue to hold educational activities all the time through various means, including social media (see the "Drop in the Sea" project), as well as volunteer activities for families who were evacuated from their homes due to the fighting or such who even completely lost their home during the terrorist attack.