Human activities are drastically changing marine ecosystems, eroding their biodiversity and capacity to provide ecosystem services. Networks of marine protected areas are an effective conservation and management tool to protect biodiversity, promote resilient marine ecosystems and provide benefits to society.
The number of protected areas has been increasing rapidly globally and is likely to continue to grow as a result of commitments already made at the European and international level (UN SDG 14, "Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development", as well as the so-called 30x30 target, i.e. to protect 30% of land and marine areas by 2030).
RECONNECT(Reconciling conservation and exploitation of a keystone species through networks of Marine Protected Areas) is a project funded by the Ministry of University and Research under the PRIN 2022 research programme and focuses on the conservation of a species of primary ecological and commercial importance in the Mediterranean, the dusky grouper (Epinephelus marginatus), with a specific territorial focus on the seas of Sicily. In particular, the project aims
- to assess whether the set of currently existing marine protected areas actually functions as an ecological network (i.e. whether the protected areas are ecologically connected by the exchange of individuals)
- to identify areas that are currently unprotected but may represent additional key nodes in the ecological network and therefore deserve priority protection
- to assess the potential benefits that an extended protection network could provide.
In particular, the project will focus on the development of spatially explicit models to analyse the connectivity between protected and non-protected areas in order to provide crucial information for planning an effective network of protected areas in the central Mediterranean, improve the management of marine resources and promote sustainable extractive (such as fishing) and non-extractive (such as nature-based tourism) activities.
