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The Interreg Italy – Malta project “SEA MARVEL – Save, Enhance, Admire Marine Versatile Life” is coming to an end. On Friday 20 October, the “Giancarlo De Carlo” auditorium of the Benedictine Monastery will host the closing conference to present the objectives achieved within the project aimed at protecting marine biodiversity and enhancing Natura 2000 sites.

The project saw the University of Catania and the University of Malta cooperate together with numerous stakeholders.

Scientific research, citizen science, teaching, awareness-raising, campaigns and training of young people, involvement of local stakeholders, initiatives, marine monitoring were the key points of the Sea Marvel project – financed by the European Regional Development Fund Interreg Italy-Malta – started in November 2020.

The final event, scheduled for Friday 20 October from 09:00, inside the auditorium of the Benedictine Monastery, will be opened with greetings from the rectors of the universities of Catania and Malta, Francesco Priolo and Alfred J. Vella respectively, and from the Italian minister for Civil Protection and Sea Policies Nello Musumeci and the Maltese Minister for the Environment Miriam Dalli, the regional councillor for Territory and Environment Elena Pagana and the mayor of Catania Enrico Trantino.

The conference – moderated by Alfio Russo, managing director of UnictMagazine – will continue with the intervention of prof. Iuri Peri of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment of the University of Catania and scientific coordinator of the Sea Marvel project who will illustrate the results of the project.

From 11:00, we will listen to various presentations of the project’s work packages, which have been developed by the teams of researchers from the two universities during the last three years: “Support for Natura 2000 sites” curated by professors Joseph Vella, Adriana Vella and the Conservation Biology Research Group of the Faculty of Science of the University of Malta;

“Increasing awareness” with the introduction of the Sea Marvel project manager, Stena Paternò, and the Di3A researchers; “Experiencing change” with the intervention of the research coordinator Clara Monaco and the Di3A researchers. 

At the end of the first session, the awards will be delivered to the schools that have signed the “Plastic Free Schools” protocol and to those who have become “Sentinels of the Sea”, such as students, fishermen, ship-owners, yachtsmen and commanders. This journey involved numerous citizens of the territories concerned and they took action to promote the elimination of plastic from schools and to collect waste from beaches. They also provided precious data on sightings of vulnerable or alien species and waste at sea. 

In the afternoon the conference’s works will continue, from 14.30 to 16.00 with the second session which includes a round table focused on the participatory management of Natura 2000 sites, moderated by Fabio Pirrotta, team leader of the DG Environment of the European Commission. Representatives of the institutional partners associated with the Sea Marvel project will take part, such as Ispra, Accobams, Life, together with the marine protected areas of “Capo Milazzo”, “Isole Ciclopi”, “Isole Pelagie”, the oriented nature reserve “Oasi del Simeto” and the stakeholders of the “Marina” fishermen’s cooperative of Patti and the Lampedusa Shipowners’ Association. 

In this final phase, the partners and stakeholders will participate in the debate by presenting their experiences and the lessons learned during the Sea Marvel course, with the aim of maintaining a continued collaboration and the increasingly effective management of the Natura 2000 Sites, since these places are the protagonists of the project for the protection of the environment and marine biodiversity. 

During the conference, the photographic exhibition of the Sea Marvel project set up in the Eastern Cloister of the Benedictine Monastery will be open from 09.00 and 16.00.