Koundouri 2018); Maritime Spatial Planning, where spatial planning services are
available to identify aquaculture and fisheries infrastructures from satellite imagery
and tools to visualize, analyse and report on a range of ecologically important
seafloor features within marine protected areas (MPAs); and Education, where
tools to set up and deliver training courses in a cost-effective way are developed.
1.4 Cultural Ecosystem Services and Marine Protected
Areas Management
Marine protected areas (MPAs) are vital for the conservation of the Mediterranean
Sea, due to their role in managing several pressures like fishery. Nonetheless, many
species and habitats in MPAs are still exposed to a variety of stressors. In most
MPAs human activities are not spatially managed considering their cumulative
effects, while monitoring and protection are not coordinated. Additionally, limited
effort has been carried out to address the environmental challenges, to measure the
consequences of human impacts and to provide management recommendations.
1.4.1 The AMAre Project
The AMAre (Actions for Marine Protected Areas) Interreg project aims to improve
the management and protection measures in order to maintain the biodiversity and to
increase the resilience of the MPAs for current purposes and upcoming challenges,
strengthening the sustainable use of the resources. The AMAre consortium consists
of ten European partners from Italy (coordinator), Malta, Spain, Greece and France
with the pilot activities being developed in four MPAs, tailored on the specific
human uses. The pilot cases will be in Spain (the Freus d’Eivissa i Formentera
Marine Reserve), Malta (Żona fil-Baħar bejn Il-Ponta ta’ San Dimitri (Għawdex) u
Il-Qaliet), Italy (Porto Cesareo MPA and Torre Guaceto MPA) and Greece (National
Marine Park of Alonissos Northern Sporades).
MPAs are exposed to a variety of stressors, related to human activities.
Unsustainable use of resources leading to habitat loss, lack of knowledge of the
mismanagement economic loss, lack of coordination and monitoring of biological
and environmental changes in MPAs and lack of integration of the interdependencies amongst human activities and MPAs in the future (e.g. coastal tourism,
aquaculture, offshore wind farms) are some of the reasons why environmental
accounting of the MPAs is needed.
The focus of the project was concentrated on those human uses considered a
concrete threat (fishery, touristic frequentation, yachting) including those possibly
increasing in the future (e.g. marine litter), which are difficult to be managed both at
local and at transnational scale. The pilot activities are replicated by different
12
P. Koundouri et al.
available to identify aquaculture and fisheries infrastructures from satellite imagery
and tools to visualize, analyse and report on a range of ecologically important
seafloor features within marine protected areas (MPAs); and Education, where
tools to set up and deliver training courses in a cost-effective way are developed.
1.4 Cultural Ecosystem Services and Marine Protected
Areas Management
Marine protected areas (MPAs) are vital for the conservation of the Mediterranean
Sea, due to their role in managing several pressures like fishery. Nonetheless, many
species and habitats in MPAs are still exposed to a variety of stressors. In most
MPAs human activities are not spatially managed considering their cumulative
effects, while monitoring and protection are not coordinated. Additionally, limited
effort has been carried out to address the environmental challenges, to measure the
consequences of human impacts and to provide management recommendations.
1.4.1 The AMAre Project
The AMAre (Actions for Marine Protected Areas) Interreg project aims to improve
the management and protection measures in order to maintain the biodiversity and to
increase the resilience of the MPAs for current purposes and upcoming challenges,
strengthening the sustainable use of the resources. The AMAre consortium consists
of ten European partners from Italy (coordinator), Malta, Spain, Greece and France
with the pilot activities being developed in four MPAs, tailored on the specific
human uses. The pilot cases will be in Spain (the Freus d’Eivissa i Formentera
Marine Reserve), Malta (Żona fil-Baħar bejn Il-Ponta ta’ San Dimitri (Għawdex) u
Il-Qaliet), Italy (Porto Cesareo MPA and Torre Guaceto MPA) and Greece (National
Marine Park of Alonissos Northern Sporades).
MPAs are exposed to a variety of stressors, related to human activities.
Unsustainable use of resources leading to habitat loss, lack of knowledge of the
mismanagement economic loss, lack of coordination and monitoring of biological
and environmental changes in MPAs and lack of integration of the interdependencies amongst human activities and MPAs in the future (e.g. coastal tourism,
aquaculture, offshore wind farms) are some of the reasons why environmental
accounting of the MPAs is needed.
The focus of the project was concentrated on those human uses considered a
concrete threat (fishery, touristic frequentation, yachting) including those possibly
increasing in the future (e.g. marine litter), which are difficult to be managed both at
local and at transnational scale. The pilot activities are replicated by different
12
P. Koundouri et al.