PROTECTED MARINE AREAS AT THE CENTRE OF THE SECOND EVENING OF THE SEA ESSENCE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
PROTECTED MARINE AREAS AT THE CENTRE OF THE SECOND EVENING OF THE SEA ESSENCE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
The safeguard and protection of the sea is one of the issues on which the Sea Essence International Festival focuses its attention, basing many of its awareness campaigns around it. A theme which even this year will be dwelt upon extensively, especially during the course of the second evening of the Festival, on the 29th of June, which will be coordinated by one of the prestigious partners of the event, the Tuscan Archipelago National Park.
In particular, parks and protected marine areas will be the main focus of the debate. As we all know, protected marine areas are zones of the sea where human activity is partially or totally limited with the aim of protecting and safeguarding important ecosystems which are peculiarly fragile because of the biological diversity they embody. In Italy there are as many as 24 protected marine areas, 2 underwater parks and an international sanctuary for the safeguard of cetaceans, which is also known as the Pelagos Sanctuary ("Santuario Pelagos"). It is precisely on the latter that attention will be particularly focused. The Cetacean Sanctuary is a marine zone covering 87,500 km², born from an agreement between Italy, France and the Principality of Monaco for the protection of the marine mammals who frequent this environment, which also comprises the island of Elba and the other islands of the Tuscan Archipelago. An approximate estimate mentions more than 8,500 animal species known to inhabit this area, representing between 4% and 18% of all marine animal species worldwide. Of course, for such reason, the area is continuously monitored and featured in campaigns dedicated to its safeguard and protection. Amongst various initiatives, the campaign "Cetacei Fai Attenzione!" ("Cetaceans: Pay Attention!") was born from a collaboration between the Italian Coast Guard, FAI - Fondo Ambiente Italiano ("Fund for the Italian Environment") and the Tethys Onlus Institute. In its second edition, it is a project of citizen science which has the aim of studying and monitoring the zone in order to safeguard the whales and dolphins of the Mediterranean Ocean.
A project involving the collaboration of all those people who enjoy going out to sea, in order to warn the experts about sightings of marine mammals, thus helping them source precious data for research, raise awareness amongst the general public, and mitigate the disturbance caused to cetaceans by seagoing vessels.
SEIF shall therefore represent a special occasion to analyse the current situation, tackle the various issues and, especially, define new objectives to be pursued for the benefit of the future of our sea.