Monitoring for managing Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas - 2014 MedPAN network regional experience-sharing workshop

Monitoring for managing Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas 2014 MedPAN network regional experience-sharing workshop – Tirana, Albania, 25-27 November

ARION-LIFE+09 NAT/IT/190

Systems for Coastal Dolphin Conservation in the Ligurian Sea

Monitoring for managing Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas - 2014 MedPAN network regional experience-sharing workshop page 2

Portofino MPA

Portofino MPA is a SPAMI site inside Pelagos Sanctuary:a considerable population of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) has to coexist with a high level of antropic activities, so that conservation actions are needed

Monitoring for managing Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas - 2014 MedPAN network regional experience-sharing workshop page 3

The project

Two detection units were placed one kilometeroff the coast of Portofino headland. Each unit is a particular type of elastic beacon equipped with four hydrophones and an acquisition system which can record the typical “social communication whistles” emitted by the dolphins and the sound emitted by boat engines and identify their absolute position in real time

The main objective:improvement of the conservation status of the bottlenose dolphin in the area by the implementation of an interference avoidance system capable to track dolphins, to identify threats and to prevent collisions by diffusing real time warning messages to all stakeholders involved

Monitoring for managing Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas - 2014 MedPAN network regional experience-sharing workshop page 4

Results

This monitoring activity is really useful for the MPA management:a continuous data series regarding bottelnose dolphin and boating activity (it’s the unique system in Mediterranean Sea)

Perm

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Information are disseminated in real time to the project stakeholdes and every people interested in cetaceans conservation by different ways (website, Arionmobile app and social network as twitter)

Monitoring for managing Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas - 2014 MedPAN network regional experience-sharing workshop page 5

• It is a project which involves high costs of installation (but only as starting investment - low maintenance costs)

• It could be considered a good and useful tool of management and conservation with a particular characteristic of repeatability both inside and outside the boundaries of the MPA

applicable to many areas of Pelagos Sanctuary

• The buoys were gradually equipped also with a lot of oceanographic sensors in order to detect environmental condition of the sea in the scientific area (Portofino MPA is an L-TER site since 2007) – a logistic advantage

Efficiency compared to the costs

From science to policy—a geostatistical approach to identifying potential areas for cetacean conservation: a case study of bottlenose dolphins in the Pelagos sanctuary (Mediterranean Sea) – Alessi, Fiori (2014)

Monitoring for managing Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas - 2014 MedPAN network regional experience-sharing workshop page 6

Monitoring for managing Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas 2014 MedPAN network regional experience-sharing workshop – Tirana, Albania, 25-27 November

Faleminderit!(thank you)

Valentina CappaneraPortofino MPA

v.cappanera@portofinoamp.it