Action Plan For The Conservation Of Marine Vegetation In The Mediterranean Sea
Source: Unofficial
INTRODUCTION
1. The Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, within the framework of the Mediterranean Action Plan, give priority to the conservation of the marine environment and to the components of its biological diversity. This was confirmed by the adoption of the new 1995 Barcelona Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean (SPA Protocol) and of its annexes, among them a list of endangered or threatened species.
2. Elaborating and implementing action plans to conserve one species or group of species is an effective way of guiding, coordinating and strengthening the efforts the Mediterranean countries are making to safeguard the natural heritage of the region.
3. The Mediterranean possesses over one thousand macroscopic marine vegetation species, with a high percentage of rare and/or endemic species. The role of these species in maintaining the balance of marine ecosystems is primordial. The direct and indirect consequences of their decline are many, at the ecological and even the economic level (primary production, spawning grounds, nurseries, stability of coasts...).
4. Although available knowledge on marine vegetation species in the Mediterranean is at present insufficient, and often fragmentary, it is obvious that these species are under increasing pressure, often anthropogenic in origin, in the Mediterranean, which engenders a degradation and decline of these species, observed in many Mediterranean regions.
5. The degradation observed and the evident decline of marine vegetation have reached such levels that it would be serious to postpone any longer taking measures on the scale of all the Mediterranean countries. Information available today allows the drafting of an Action Plan for the Conservation of Marine vegetation in the Mediterranean Sea. The Action Plan will be adapted, where necessary, as further data become available.
6. The threats hanging over the marine plants in the Mediterranean are numerous and vary according to the affected species, and from one region to the next. Most of these threats are of anthropogenic origin. The main known threats are:
* Infrastructure development on the littoral
* pollution
* turbidity
* anchorage
* bottom trawling
* uncontrolled development of aquaculture
* use of explosives
* laying of sea cables
* recovery
* modification of sedimentary flow
* Accumulation of sedimentation originating from watersheds
* sand extracting from the sea bed and enlargement of beaches
* competition with non-indigenous species
* trampling
Other threats are foreseeable, such as the exploitation of certain marine vegetation species for industrial purposes.
A. OBJECTIVES
The main objectives aimed at by the present Action Plan are:
1. Ensuring the conservation of macroscopic marine vegetation species and vegetal assemblages in the Mediterranean by implementing management and legal protection measures. These measures should also permit improved knowledge of these species;
2. Avoiding loss and degradation of the seagrass meadows, and of other vegetal assemblages of importance for the marine environment, as marine habitats that are essential to the survival of many Mediterranean species, and keeping them in favourable conservation status;
3. Ensuring the conservation of marine vegetal assemblages that could be considered natural monuments, such as barrier reefs of Posidonia and organogenic surface formations, terraces (platforms with vermitids covered by soft algae) and certain Cystoseira belts.
B. PRIORITIES
In implementing the Action Plan, priority will be accorded to:
8. At species level: the present Action Plan's provisions are to be implemented for all the macrophyta species inhabiting the Mediterranean. Particular attention must be paid, however, to the species appearing in Annex 2 to the SPA Protocol. These species are:
Magnoliophyta: Posidonia oceanica, Zostera marina, Zostera noltii .
Chlorophyta: Caulerpa ollivieri.
Phaeophyta: Cystoseira amentacea, Cystoseira mediterranea, Cystoseira sedoides, Cystoseira spinosa, Cystoseira zosteroides, Laminaria rodriguezii.
Rhodophyta: Goniolithon byssoides, Lithophyllum lichenoides, Ptilophora mediterranea, Schimmelmannia schousboei.
Priority should also be given to other species of importance to the natural heritage of the Mediterranean, to be designated at a future time.
Given the particular importance of Posidonia meadows and other vegetal assemblages of importance for the marine environment in the Mediterranean, their conservation is to be considered one of the main priorities of the present Action Plan.
8. At national level:
o inventory of species, determination and mapping of their distribution
o identification of threats
o establishment of protected areas
o detailed mapping of seagrass meadows
o protection of seagrass meadows and of other vegetal assemblages of importance for the marine environment
o reinforced protection of the Posidonia barrier reefs and organogenic surface formations and certain Cystoseira belts
o elaboration and implementation of appropriate legislation
o establishment of marine vegetation monitoring networks
o controlling the impact made by watershed infrastructures on the marine environment
8.3. At regional level:
o strengthening cooperation and exchange of experience
o make sure information is well circulated, particularly in the case where transboundary phenomena appear (pollution, invasion by non-indigenous species, etc.)
o promote and support the setting up of national marine vegetation monitoring networks
o promote the creation of protected areas to protect Posidonia meadows and other vegetal assemblages of importance for the marine environment
C. ACTION REQUIRED TO ATTAIN THE OBJECTIVES OF THE ACTION PLAN
C.1 Legislation
9. The species and vegetal assemblages of importance for the marine environment should be granted legal protection. In particular, the vegetal species enumerated in annex 2 to the SPA Protocol should be accorded legal protection in the countries where they exist in order to control and, if necessary, prohibit any type of destruction or disturbance, including the taking, harvesting, cutting, uprooting, possessing, trading in, transporting and exhibiting for commercial purposes, of these species. It is also important to provide for penal sanctions for damage caused to seagrass meadows and other vegetal assemblages of importance for the marine environment. It is necessary to harmonize the Mediterranean legislation and to elaborate guidelines to assist countries in their efforts in this field.
10. The Contracting Parties which have not yet promulgated legislation for the protection of seagrass meadows and other vegetal assemblages of importance for the marine environment should do so as soon as possible.
11. The regulation relating to impact studies will have to be strengthened to make obligatory the assessment of impact on seagrass meadows of all human activity to be introduced in areas possessing seagrass meadows. The regulation will have to pay special attention to the impact on seagrass meadows and other vegetal assemblages of importance for the marine environment in the case of harbour facilities (including marinas), laying down pipes for sewage discharging at sea, dredging work or deposits of material from dredging and aquaculture projects. Guidelines for the assessment of environmental impact on seagrass meadows will have to be elaborated by RAC/SPA in collaboration with Mediterranean experts and concerned organizations.
C.2 Creating marine protected areas for the protection of seagrass meadows and other vegetal assemblages of importance for the marine environment
12. It is necessary to establish marine protected areas to protect the most representative seagrass meadows and other vegetal assemblages of importance for the marine environment by applying the protection and management measures recommended by articles 6 and 7 of the SPA Protocol.
13. The marine vegetal assemblages that could be considered natural monuments, such as barrier reefs of Posidonia, organogenic surface formations, terraces (platforms with vermitids covered by soft algae) and certain Cystoseira belts, will have to be identified as soon as possible and covered by a network of protected areas.
14. Those Mediterranean marine protected areas which contain seagrass meadows, Posidonia barrier reefs, organogenic surface formations, terraces (platforms with vermitids covered by soft algae) and certain Cystoseira belts or other marine vegetal assemblages and for which management and monitoring plans have not yet been developed and implemented, must be provided with such plans as soon as possible.
C.3 Publicity, information, public awareness and education
12. Maps showing the distribution of the main meadows in each country will have to be elaborated and circulated to the actors on the littoral (municipalities, industry, tourism, fishermen, etc.). Physical planning and management plans will have to take account of these maps.
13. Public awareness and education programmes directed at stakeholders, the local population and the broad public will have to be implemented to help reduce the impact on marine vegetation, especially as regards organogenic surface formations. NGOs should be encouraged to participate in such programmes.
C.4 Scientific Research
17. As regards scientific research on marine vegetation in the Mediterranean, priority must be given to:
* enhanced research at the assemblage, species and genetic level;
* the compilation of check-lists of vegetal taxa, assemblages and seascape as well as the determination and mapping of their distribution;
* the influence of environmental factors (temperature, nutrients in sea water and in the sediment, salinity, sedimentation, turbidity, etc.), environmental changes, the effects of pollution and biotic interactions;
* the study of incidental introduction and invasion of non-indigenous species and their impacts;
* the development of techniques of monitoring, mapping, environmental impact assessments and other tools for planning and management.
18. It is advisable to organize, within one year starting from the date when the present Action Plan is adopted, a Mediterranean symposium on marine vegetation in order to take stock of available scientific data. The symposium should be regularly held every four years.
C.5 Collection and circulation of data
19. Since scientific data on the biology, ecology and conservation of marine vegetation in the Mediterranean are rare and frequently fragmentary, it is necessary to gather the information that is available in this field and set up a Mediterranean databank held by the RAC/SPA and regularly updated in collaboration with the experts and organizations concerned. This databank will be used to produce technical syntheses and other technical documentation. It must be made available for consultation on the Internet.
20. To facilitate exchange, a directory of specialists, laboratories and organizations concerned with marine vegetation in the Mediterranean shall be established and regularly updated.
C.6 Training
21. It would be advisable to promote the training of specialists in the study and conservation of marine vegetation, especially in the countries of the south and east Mediterranean. To this end, it is important to identify already existing initiatives in this field and to give priority to taxonomy, conservation biology and techniques for monitoring marine vegetation, as well as the subjects of research set out in section C.4 above.
C.7 National plans
22. To ensure more efficiency in the measures envisaged in the implementation of this Action Plan, Mediterranean countries are invited to establish national plans for the conservation of marine vegetation. Each national plan should take into account the concerned country's, or even areas', specific features. It must suggest appropriate legislative measures, particularly for the environmental impact assessment of coastal infrastructure (building works, pipelines out to sea, and deposits of material from dredging) and to control activities which could affect marine vegetation (such as fishing and anchorage). The national plan shall be based on the available scientific data and will include programmes for (i) collection and regular updating of data, (ii) training and refresher courses for specialists, (iii) awareness-raising and education for the general public, actors and decision-makers and (iv) the conservation of seagrass meadows and other vegetal assemblages of importance for the Mediterranean marine environment. The national plans must be brought to the attention of all concerned actors and, when possible, coordinated with the relevant national plans (e.g. emergency plan to deal with pollution).
D. REGIONAL COORDINATION STRUCTURE
23. Regional coordination of the implementing of the present Action Plan will be guaranteed by the Mediterranean Action Plan's (MAP) secretariat through the Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas. The main functions of the coordinating structure shall consist in:
o collecting, validating and circulating data at Mediterranean level;
o promoting the drawing up of inventories of species, seagrass meadows and other vegetal assemblages of importance for the Mediterranean marine environment;
o promoting transboundary cooperation;
o promoting and coordinating the setting up of marine vegetation monitoring networks;
o preparation of reports on progress in the implementation of the Action Plan, to be submitted to the meeting of national focal points for SPAs and to meetings of the Contracting Parties;
o organizing meetings of experts on specific subjects relating to marine vegetation and training sessions.
24. Complementary work done by other international organizations, and aiming at the same objectives, shall be encouraged, promoting coordination and avoiding possible duplication of efforts.
E. PARTICIPATION IN THE IMPLEMENTATION
25. Implementing the present Action Plan is the province of the national authorities of the Contracting Parties. The concerned international organizations and/or NGOs, laboratories and any organization or body are invited to join in the work necessary for implementing the present Action Plan. At their ordinary meetings, the Contracting Parties may, at the suggestion of the meeting of National Focal Points for SPAs, grant the status of "Action Plan Associate" to any organization or laboratory which so requests and which carries out, or supports (financially or otherwise) the carrying out of concrete actions (conservation, research, etc.) likely to facilitate the implementation of the present Action Plan, taking into account the priorities contained therein.
26. The coordination structure shall set up a mechanism for regular dialogue between the participating organizations and, where necessary, organize meetings to this effect. Dialogue should be made mainly by mail, including E-mail.
F. TITLE OF PARTNER OF THE ACTION PLAN
27. To encourage and reward contributions to the work of applying the Action Plan, the Contracting Parties may at their ordinary meetings grant the title of "Action Plan Partner" to any organization (governmental, NGO, economic, etc.) that has to its credit concrete actions likely to help protect marine vegetation in the Mediterranean. Conditions for the awarding of the Partner title shall be adopted by the Contracting Parties following the advice given by the meeting of national focal points for SPA.
G. ASSESSING THE IMPLEMENTATION AND REVISION OF THE ACTION PLAN
28. At each of their meetings, the national focal points for the SPAs will assess the progress in the implementation of the Action Plan, on the basis of national reports on the subject and of a report made by the RAC/SPA on implementation at regional level. In the light of this assessment, the meeting of the national focal points for the SPA will suggest recommendations to be submitted to the Contracting Parties. If necessary, the meeting of the focal points may also suggest adjustments to the timetable given in the Annex to the Action Plan.
Annex
Implementation Timetable
Action......Deadline
Ratification of the SPA Protocol......As soon as possible
* Mediterranean symposium
(see paragraph 18 of the Action Plan)......Year 2000 and thereafter every four years.
* Guidelines for impact studies
(see paragraph 11 of the Action Plan)......Year 2000
* First version of the Mediterranean Data Bank
(see paragraph 19 of the Action Plan)......Year 2000
First issue of the directory of concerned specialists, laboratories and organizations ......Year 2000r
* Launching of the procedures for legal protection of species
(see paragraph 9 of the Action Plan)......Year 2001
* Elaboration of national plans
(see paragraph 22 of the Action Plan)......2001 - 2002
* Inventory of seagrass meadows and other marine vegetal assemblages that could be considered natural monuments
(see paragraph 13 of the Action Plan)......Year 2002
Preparation of management plans for the protected areas......Year 2002
Preliminary inventory of species......Year 2002
Setting up of networks for the monitoring of marine vegetation......Year 2003
Mapping of seagrass meadows and other vegetal assemblages of importance for the marine environment......Year 2006
