The MPA NETWORKS project has the ambitious objective of improving the management effectiveness of Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas, providing solutions to key challenges for the protection and conservation of our seabed.
In particular, the project will focus on a number of issues that are important for MPAs:
- small-scale fishing
- protection of migratory species such as turtles and marine mammals
- search for funding.
The issues will be addressed through the implementation of the MPA network in the Mediterranean at national, sub-regional and Mediterranean level, i.e. by creating moments of exchange of best practices, training centres to share methodologies and monitoring protocols, working tables with experts to leverage on important issues in the protection of biodiversity.
The MPA Network therefore has a central role in the project, as a key element in improving the management of the MPAs themselves.
The above-mentioned issues will be addressed in different ways in the various Marine Protected Areas, in particular, the theme of small-scale fisheries management will be dealt with in the MPAs of Portofino, Torre del Cerrano and Torre Guaceto, as well as by the Strunjan Reserve and the Institute for Nature Conservation in Albania, trying to put into practice good practices and continuing to apply successful protocols implemented in previous projects. The issue of turtles will be dealt with by the Zakynthos National Marine Park, which will build a real hospital to assist animals in difficulty, also implementing prevention protocols, while that of cetaceans will be dealt with in particular by Port Cros and Portofino, as coordinators of the Italian and French MPA networks of the Pelagos Marine Mammal Sanctuary.
Finally, the hot topic of funding will be addressed especially with the training for managers of marine protected areas that will be organised in particular in the Brijuni National Park in Croatia. The official project website is https://mpa-networks.interreg-med.eu/
