Monitoring

One of the main objectives of the Sea Marvel project is to provide crucial information on indicator species of vulnerable ecosystems within the 6 Natura 2000 sites, as well as on alien species and plastic waste that may put their life at risk. This is done to support a complete and integrated assessment useful for implementing protection actions in these sites and in the respective fishing areas. For this reason, it is essential to collect data on the species living there, on the number of specimens, their predominance or rarity, and the measurement of the degree of habitat degradation caused by plastic waste, abandoned fishing gear, maritime traffic, and alien species.

Since the beginning of Sea Marvel and until now, researchers from the University of Catania have carried out more than 100 scientific surveys at sea, operating both on scientific vessels in the Gulf of Catania and on passenger ferries and cargo ships along the Catania – Malta routes, Porto Empedocle – Lampedusa, and Trapani – Pantelleria. Among the data monitored, important information was collected regarding naval traffic, and the presence of floating waste, macro fauna and vulnerable species such as cetaceans and turtles. 

A fundamental contribution to the data collection was also provided by a community of “Sea Sentinels” made up of 50 professional artisanal fishermen active in the areas of Milazzo, Catania, and the Pelagie Islands, who regularly sent reports about the presence of floating waste, birdlife, fish, cetaceans and turtles within their fishing areas, but also on the catches of rare or alien marine species. To date we have received more than 300 reports from them!

Below you can find the first results obtained by monitoring approximately 1,412,533 hectares of sea surface. The activities are still ongoing and further content will be published soon.