Stronger together for the Mediterranean Sea

MedPAN is a network of

Marine Protected Area managers

dedicated to

halt the loss of biodiversity

in the Mediterranean Sea.

MedPAN’s mission:Actively contribute to achieve a representative, connected, integrated and effectively managed

system of Mediterranean MPAs, through a strong and active networking of MPA managers and

other actors at all levels that increases knowledge and capacities of MPAs while improving

awareness, MPA policy implementation and funding.

2019-2023 and beyond strategy

Albania - National Agency of Protected Areas, * APAWA – Association for Protection of Aquatic Wildlife of Albania, * INCA – Institute for Nature Conservation in Albania, * Royal Albanian

Foundation – Algeria - Commissariat National du Littoral, National Park of El Kala, National Park of Gouraya, National Park of Taza, *“Barbarous” association, * “Le Dauphin” association, * National

Scientific Association of Young people “Discovery of Nature” - Croatia - Brijuni National Park, Kornati National Park (founding member), Lastovo Islands Nature Park Public Institution, Mljet

National Park, Public Institution for Management of Nature protected areas in Dubrovnik Neretva County, Public Institution of Priroda, Public Institution for Management of protected areas in

Šibenik-Knin County, Public Institution for Management of Protected Areas in ZADAR, Telašçica Nature Park Public Institution, * Blue World Institute of Marine Research and Conservation, *

Marine Explorers Society – 20000 leagues, * Sunce – Association for Nature, Environment and Sustainable Development – Cyprus - Department of Fisheries and Marine Research (DFMR) –

Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment – Egypt - Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (founding member), * Nature Conservation Egypt – France - Calanques National Park,

City of Agde – MPA of the Agathoise Coast (ADENA founding member), City of Antibes Juan-les-Pins, City of Marseille, Cities of the Saint-Tropez gulf – Marine Observatory department: “Corniche

Varoise” MPA, Corsican Environment Office – Natural Reserve of the Straight of Bonifacio, Conseil Général Pyrénées Orientales – Cerbère-Banyuls Reserve, Corsican Natural Regional Park –

Natural Reserve of Scandola, Metropole of Nice-Côte d’Azur (Natura 2000 at Sea site of Cap Ferrat), Port-Cros National Park (founding member), Regional Natural Park of Camargue, WWF France

foundation (founding member), * Conservatoire du Littoral – International Unit, * French Biodiversity Agency, * Grouper Study Group, * Mediterranean Small Islands Initiative, * Medwet, * Plan Bleu,

* Planète Mer, * Septentrion Environnement, * Souffleurs d’Ecume, * Tour du Valat – Greece - Thermaikos Gulf Protected Areas Management Authority, Karpathos and Saria Protected Area

Management Agency, Management Body of the National Marine Park of Alonnisos Northern Sporades, Management Body of Samaria (White Mountains) National Park, Zakynthos National Park

(founding member), * WWF Greece – Israel - Nature and Parks Authority, * Eco-ocean – Italy - Cinque Terre National Park, City of Alghero : MPA of Capo Caccia-Isola Piana, City of Cabras –

Manager of the MPA of “Penisola del Sinis – Isola di Mal di Ventre”, Consortium of Management of Portofino MPA, Consortium of the Marine Reserve Punta Campanella, Consortium of

Management of Torre Guaceto, Gargano National Park Authority : Natural Marine Reserve of Tremiti islands, MPA of the Egadi Islands, MPA of the Bergeggi Island, MPA of Tavolara Punta Coda

Cavallo, MPA of Torre del Cerrano, MPA of Ustica, Municipality of Lampedusa and Linosa – Isole Pelagie MPA, Municipality of San Benedetto del Tronto, Plemmirio MPA Consortium, Porto

Cesareo MPA management Consortium, Province of Crotone – MPA of Capo Rizzuto, Regional Park Migliarino San Rossore Massaciuccoli – MPA of « Secche della Meloria », Soprintendenza

per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli – Public Authority in charge of the marine parks of Baia et Gaiola, Tuscany Archipelago National Park, Villasimius Municipality – Management Body of Capo

Carbonara MPA, WWF Italy – Miramare Marine Reserve (founding member), * Cetacean Studies Center, * “DelTA” association, * FEDERPARCHI – Italian Federation of Natural Parks and

Reserves, * General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), * Interdisciplinary Study Center Gaiola onlus, * WWF Mediterranean Programme Office – Lebanon - PINRC – Palm

Islands Nature Reserve Committee, Tyre Coast Nature Reserve, * Environment Protection Committee (EPC) – Libya - * Environmental General Authority – EGA – Malta - * Environment and

Resources Authority (ERA) – Morocco - * AGIR Association, * Haut Commissariat aux Eaux et Forêts et à la lutte contre la désertification, * RODPAL – Network of NGOs in the National Park of Al

Hoceima – Monaco - Nature Protection Association in Monaco, * ACCOBAMS – Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea Mediterranean Sea and Contigous Atlantic Area –

Montenegro - * MEDCEM – Mediterranean Center for Environmental Monitoring, * “Posidonia Center for Development and Resources” NGO – Slovenia - Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for

Nature Conservation (founding member), Municipality of Ankaran (Parc of Debeli Rtič), Public Institute Landscape Park Strunjan, * Morigenos – Slovenian Marine Mammals Society – Spain -

Andalucia regional authority, Balearic Government General Directorate of Natural Areas and Biodiversity, DEPANA – League for the Defense of the Natural Heritage, Government of Catalonia,

National Parks Authority – Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (OAPN), * Columbares association, * Fundacion Biodiversidad, * Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment. General

Secretariat of Fisheries, * IUCN – International Union for Conservation of Nature – Mediterranean Centre for Cooperation – Tunisia - * APAL – Coastal Protection and Development Agency, *

RAC/SPA – Regional Activity Center for Specially Protected Areas, * “Notre Grand Bleu” association – Turkey - WWF Turkey (founding member), * Mediterranean Conservation Society (akdeniz

koruma dernegi), * SAD – Underwater Research Society, * Turkish Marine Research Foundation

MedPAN gathers:

116organisations

19countries

110managed MPAs

www.mapamed.org

The Mediterranean MPA system in 2016:1,231 MPAs and OECMs covering 179,798 km2

All MPAs and OECMs: 6.81 %

National designations: 1.27 %

Fully and strongly protected areas

(no-go, no-take, no-fishing zones) : 0.04 %

Largely coastal and European

Mostly cover shallow waters

Insight into managementFrom the 2016 interview of 73 MPA managers

Lack of permanent

& trained staff,

Lack of material.

Insufficient funds,

few business

plans.

Few management

plans - Weak

monitoring / few

baselines.

Weak surveillance

and enforcement.

© MedPAN

Improve

knowledge.MPA database – Status of

MPAs – Climate change

and Invasive species –

Monitoring protocols…

Build capacities

and share

solutions.Experience sharing

workshops and visits – Best

practices - Training cursus –

Small projects…

Link policy-making

with local actions.European policies –

Barcelona Convention -

Convention of Biological

Diversity – United Nations

…

Support

Mediterranean vision

and financing.Mediterranean MPA Forum –

Roadmap for Mediterranean

MPAs – The MedFund…

MedPAN does:

2019-2023 and beyond strategy

© MedPAN

Support Mediterranean vision and financing Forum of MPAs in the Mediterranean

3rd edition in October 2020

Thematic sessions:

➔ Opportunity for exchange on the

conservation of Posidonia meadows

(towards common indicator at Med level)

Post-2020 recommendations

➔ Actions to enhance the value of the

Posidonia meadow in carbon

compensation measures (particularly in

the air and maritime transport sectors)

Knowledge 2020 Status of MPAs in the Mediterranean

Pre-assessment based on the responses collected from 99 MPAs (work in progress)

➔ So far, 55% MPAs target Posidonia as one of the main species in their management

objectives.

Conservation

measures applied

Monitoring

implemented

Build capacity and share solutions Raise awareness for regulations and enforcement

Need for effective surveillance

and enforcement of regulations

(data from the 2016 Status of Mediterranean MPAs)

Challenges:

➔ Overcoming conflicts of

competence between

administrations

➔ Providing MPA rangers with

police power

➔ Strengthening operational

coordination between local

authorities, administrations and

actors

The management of recreational boating activity in Portofino marine protected area (Ligurian Sea) and the measures to mitigate

anchoring

Anchors away!Mitigating direct anthropogenic impacts on Posidonia beds

Green Fund, Villa Kazouli, Kifisias Avenue 241, Athens, Greece 21-22 November 2019

Valentina CappaneraPortofino MPA

page 13

Portofino MPA

Zona A (no take-no entry zone)

Zona B (generally protected zone)

Zona C (partially protected zone)

SPAMI (2005)L-TER (2007)Natura 2000: IT1332674

Seaweed environment

pre-coralligenous

Coralligenous and twiligth environments

The environment

Along the western and eastern slopes of the Promontory:meadow of Posidonia oceanica

The typical biocenosis of the southern slope are the pre-coralligenous and coralligenous one

Portofino MPA -Zoning A (19,05 he) B (167,02 he) C (188,061 he)

Fine sand 0 0,13 11,49

Infralittoral plebbes (IP) 0,59 1,50 0

Photophilic infralittoral algae (PIA) 2,77 17,55 20,54

Sciaphilic red algae 1,15 11,50 15,53

Posidonia meadows(HP) 0,53 0,41 38,97

Mixed of living and dead Posidonia 0 0 0,99

Dead matte of Posidonia 0 0,35 3,83

Sciaphilic circalittoral algae 0 14,98

Coastal muddy bottoms (VTC) 0 0 15,58

Coralligenous assemblages (C) 0,74 17,21 2,75

Coastal detritus (CD) 10,75 144,94 42,15

Muddy detritus (MD) 0 0 14,48

The most important benthic populations

Science for Management Workshop, Ortigia, 5-6 March 2013

Conceptual model of Portofino MPA

Lobster: the species Palinurus elephas, together with other crostaceans such as the Mediterranean slipper lobster(Scyllarides latus and Scyllarus arctus), European lobster (Homarus gammarus) and the spider grab (Majasquinado)

Grouper: brown grouper (Epinephelus marginatus), but also red grouper (Mycteroperca rubra)

Coralligenous habitat: tipical habitat of infra and circa-littoral coast included in the Barcellona Convention as PriorityHabitat IV.3.1 by the SPA/BIO protocol

Posidonia oceanica: habitat included in the Barcellona Convention as Priority Habitat III.5.1 by the SPA/BIO protocol(SPAMI and Natura 2000 species) associated with important protected species included in the SPAMI list such asPinna Nobilis

Vision“Conservation and education

for a better life quality”

Biodiversity target identified in ISEA project

page 17

Portofino MPA is close to several ports and marinas: the structures of Genoa arelocated in the west(more than 5000 recreational boats can reach this MPA in less than three hours)in the east there are ports and marinas of different little towns for a total of 2000recreational boats

National berth (%)

Data from U.C.I.N.A.

page 18

High environmental value + high frequentation

page 19

The monitoring activity

Since 2006, in a strict collaboration with theUniversity of Genoa, Portofino MPA has beencarrying on specific monitoring campaigns inorder to know the full extent of recreationalboating problem, identifying the high risk areaof the MPA and optimizing managementstrategies already in place

The monitoring activity is useful andnecessary because of the presence of areaswhich are Natura 2000 sites: Posidoniaoceanica and coralligenous habitat arebiodiversity target to preserve inside PortofinoMPA

Visual census by MPA boat

Boating monitoring by daily ferries

Types of monitoring totally comparable(3% of gap)

This monitoring activity permits to have goodinformations with low cost (the activity iscarried on above all by students of theUniversity of Genoa)

Venturini et al. 2018 - Recreational boating in the Portofino Marine Protected Area (MPA), Italy: Characterization and analysis in the last decade (2006–2016) and some considerations on management

page 20

This collaboration brought to thecreation of WebGIS MACISTE system(Marine Coastal Information System).

The presence of boats can be easilycompared with weather conditionsas well as, spatially, with habitats.

www.remare.org

Relevant differences in the presenceof the boats have been founddepending on the different summermonths, on the day and on thebetter weather conditions

The weather evaluation is a criticalpoint of the methodology because itcan depend on the grade of expertiseof the operator but a local weatherevaluation permits to better estimatethe weather condition reducing theweather forecast uncertainty

page 21

1057410535

9310

12056

10212

10223

1058910511

9753

11347

11412

10098

13496

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

Num

ber

of

boats

in t

he s

um

mer

season

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

The hystorical series of data

16 giugno 2014Ore 15.00

16 giugno 2014Ore 15.30

16 giugno 2014Ore 16.00 circa

Number of boats in Portofino MPA from 2006 to 2018(estimated value)

The high number of boats evaluated in 2018:since 2013 the monitoring activity has been improved with information collected with camera surveillance system, even if it is only useful to evaluate boating fluxes and have information on weather condition

Distribution of recreational boating in the Portofino MPA

Climatic stressors

Praterie di Posidonia

Antropic stressors

storms

Mucillagines

Sedimentation and Torbidity

anchoring

pollution

Alien species

Vulnerability: HIGHCapacity of adaptation: Medium

Monitoring on Posidonia

Antropic stressorsStormsAnchoring

Climatic stressors

Sedimentation

Name 2005 2011 2018

San Rocco 0.978768577 0.815192744 0.745102454

Cervara 0.491002571 0.607773852 0.654910097

Niasca 0.224074074 0.436563437

Conservation Index

Before the storm:improving trend

Other monitoring activitiesin 2019

page 25

Management measures adopted

1) over a hundred of ‘seagrass‐friendly’ moorings for recreational boating

2) a forbidden zone to boats of more than 10 m long

before After (2012)

page 26

Management measures adopted

3) from 2012 a swim line forbidden to boats access 2012

page 27

Portofino MPA manages the Natura 2000 site but has to interface with Regione Liguria.Often the Region gives permission to carry on activities inside protected zones withouttaking into consideration the MPA Authority (conflicts of competence betweenadministrations)

what has worked and what has not worked

Positive aspectsA predictive model could support the management addressing boats to the lessfrequented zones (actually we are working on the creation of a predictive modelfor recreational boating addressed to inform users, in advance, regarding mostcongested areas and encourage the correct use of Portofino MPA)

A mooring zone permits to increase the income of the MPA that could invest onthe habitat protection

The seagrass-friendly mooring area is one of the most visited sectors in the MPAof Portofino, showing a good acceptance of this kind of mooring system by therecreational boaters

Negative aspects

We still have to work on raising awareness

Lack of consciousness in the local population of the Posidonia habitat importance

page 28

Future prospective

Exportation of the monitoring protocol for boating activity to other Italian MPAsThe Italian Ministry of Environment asked us to transfer our methodology to SinisMPA (Sardinia) and Tremiti MPA (Puglia)

Extension of the Portofino MPA limitsSome of the municipalities outside of the MPA want to be included within thelimits of the MPAWe started a first consultation some weeks agoInclusion of other areas with Posidonia meadow that are outside the MPA

Redesignation of the different level of protection zones within the MPAExtension of the General reserve to the east and west side of PortofinoPromontory where Posidonia oceanica is, in order to avoid anchoring definitely

page 29

Thank you for your attention

Valentina CappaneraPortofino MPAv.cappanera@portofinoamp.it