PROTOMEDEA - Towards the establishment of Marine Protected Area Networks in the Eastern Mediterranean

The ultimate goal of the project was to design a Marine Protected Area (MPA) network in the study areas (Greece and Cyprus), taking into account the protection of ecological characteristics and Essential Fish Habitats (EFH), significant areas for fisheries, as well as their socio-economic impacts through a participatory bottom-up process. More specifically, the project focused on proposing Marine Protected Area (MPA) networks aiming to achieve the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Within this context, mapping of existing MPAs and EFHs were foreseen, while the development of ECOPATH models in selected MPAs were be considered, using previous and new data, in order to assess the current overall contribution of MPAs in fisheries sustainability. Additionally, what-if scenarios of MPAs’ impacts on MSY and ECOPATH/ECOSPACE models were be evaluated and discussed with a wide range of stakeholders in order to propose commonly agreed and more effective MPAs in the study areas. Different management schemes were developed and examined in order to support the optimization of fisheries management.

Project partners

PROTOMEDA partners are:

• HCMR - Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (Greece) – Project coordinator
• University of the Aegean (Greece)
• Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece)
• ENALIA - Enalia Physis Environmental Research Centre (Cyprus)
• NMPANS - National Marine Park of Alonissos Northern Sporades (Greece)
• CNR ISMAR - National Research Council, Institute of Marine Sciences (Italy),
• University of Cyprus (Cyprus)