IMPRECO meets BLUE_BOOST Project!
On 10th of September 2019, the Municipality of Staranzano, Lead Partner of IMPRECO, represented by Massimiliano Pinat (Project Coordinator) and Francesca Visintin (Scientific Expert), met a delegation of the BLUE_BOOST Project – ADRION Programme during their study visit to the Miramare Marine Protected Area and to BIOMA (Immersive Museum of Miramare Protected Area).
While the study visit to Immersive Museum of Miramare Protected Area
BLUE_BOOST project aims at unlocking and boosting the potential of knowledge/technology transfer, transnational and cross-sectoral cooperation of key innovation actors of traditional and emerging Blue Growth sectors. As for the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region (Italy) where the project is represented by CEI – Central Europe Initiative, the project is focusing on innovative solutions for supporting coastal protection: to this end, IMPRECO’s delegation presented the pilot action under implementation in the Isonzo Rivermouth Nature Reserve.
The aim of the pilot is to preserve the functionality of marine ecosystems and balance the trade-offs between Cultural Ecosystem Services and Regulation & Maintenance (BIOTIC) Ecosystem Services by reducing the pressures and impacts generated by boating and kitesurf associations on the habitat of the seagrass meadows and wild birds population in the N2K site. Indeed, according to project monitoring activities, seagrass meadows are impacted by the anchoring of boats which jeopardizes their capacity to provide a nursery habitat for fish stock and other marine species. On the other side, boating activities disturb also wild birds population, especially those nesting in the “Isola dei Gabbiani”which is a restricted area within the Isonzo Rivermouth Nature Reserve, while kitesurfers generate further disturbance on birds in the N2K site by the seal of the kitesurfs, especially during the winter season with a serious risk of abandonment of the wintering area.
While the study visit to Immersive Museum of Miramare Protected Area
A great interest was raised among the participants by the software application for mobile phone and digital sports watch developed by the Municipality of Staranzano for informing and support boaters in the application of the behavioural code adopted by the pilot Protected Area: the app points out the limits of the N2K on a georeferenced map as well as the potential threats on habitats and birds, depending on the season, together with the related limitations for boating and kitesurfing activities. The BLUE_BOOST delegation, which included some of the most important organisation in the Blue Economy of the ADRION Area, further stressed the potentials of the pilot action presented, as well as the overall IMPRECO project, for improving the maritime spatial planning and integrated coastal zone management of critical marine areas: they renewed the proposals for a closer collaboration between the two projects for supporting the innovative approaches and methodologies developed by IMPRECO with the technology solutions found out by BLUE_BOOST. For this reason, they greeted each other with a promise: see you in Apulia Region for IMPRECO’s final event!