AdriaPAN Secretariat Intervention to the “Stakehoders
seminar on boosting blue growth in the Adriatic and Ionian Region”. Bruxelles,
14 November 2013.
Panel 3A – Spatial planning and Coastal Zone
Management
MPAs are an asset for Pillar 3 of the Adriatic-Ionian
strategy: they could serve as reference point and control sites for marine
biodiversity, but also as dissemination/awareness tool.
Having in mind the present situation of the marine
environment, we have to ask for more MPAs in the adriatic-ionian sub-region.
Its high diversity is spanning from the Jabuka pit to the wetlands in Albania
and on the northern side, to the croatian and slovenian cliffs, to the sandy
shorelines.
Thinking about the DIVERSITY we share within this stretch of
sea, we have to consider the diverse richness of our sites: landscapes,
languages, cultures, historical heritage, wine and food, and all of this in a
space as little as the Adriatic-Ionian sub-region. Marine Protected Areas
(MPAs) host biodiversity hotspots and are - most of the times - spawning
grounds or nursery areas for fish populations, thus serving fish stock
populations targetted by fishing industry. The majority of these areas host
historical sites (i.e. Brijuni), or high quality agriculture (i.e. Torre
Guaceto), fishing grounds (i.e. Torre del Cerrano), specialised aquaculture
(i.e. Po river mouth), tourist attractions such as wine/food specialities or
folkloristic events. Diversity is attractiveness.
As the financial resources to manage MPAs are scarse, more
coordination is needed among ministries, E.U. institutions, donors. Ministry
for environment at first, but also agriculture/fisheries,
historical/archeological goods, tourism authorities. The environment protection
can not be limited to the coastal area, but should include open sea – deepwater
sites, fishing management zones, historical sites and food/wine attractions
too, for a better efficiency of the scarse financial resources. The result
would be the overall protection of our marine-coastal heritage - taking into
consideration each one of its aspects - bringing it to be more attarctive. A
model could be the one of the “Coastal action groups”, but tailored on a
broader vision of environment and cultural conservation.
The network of MPAs represented by AdriaPAN – a regional
branch of the wider MedPAN network – is presently facing several threats:
climate change and alien species (for which detailled monitoring activity is
more and more urgent) and local-scale human activities for which more control
is needed. This second group encompasses marine litter and sewage treatment
plants, industrial use of huge amounts of seawater as the one foreseen for LNG
regasification plants, oil prospection activities using air-guns which are harmful
for delicate species such as dolphins and monk seal.
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