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INSIGHT

“A central theme emerged from this event: improving MPA
management in the Pelagos Sanctuary. Protecting these
cradles of biodiversity, these marine nurseries, is not only an
environmental obligation, it is a moral imperative, our duty to
future generations.”
Pierre-Jean Clausse, European Climate Pact Ambassador
in France

TACKLING THE CHALLENGES
TOGETHER
FOUR PRIORITY TOPICS
“The Pelagos Agreement plus the recent BBNJ Treaty
gives us a three-country agreement to protect a large The opening talks were followed by collaborative
section of our ocean and the pelagic ecosystem of workshops for participants to share their views and
the Mediterranean, potentially setting an example for approaches, build a common vision of the future and
other open seas and cross-border areas inhabited agree on concrete action, and sometimes solutions.
by migratory species, such as the Coral Triangle The forum highlighted a number of critical challenges, © Marta Sostres
in South-East Asia”, explained Purificació Canals, inspirational ideas and opportunities, including:
President of MedPAN, the Mediterranean network
of marine protected area managers. This view was 1/ Improving marine protected area management
echoed by Alessio Satta, Executive Director at in the Pelagos Sanctuary: using these MPAs as
WWF Mediterranean, who stressed that despite a testing ground for marine spatial planning and
the problems to be solved, “we set an example to regulations, empowering managers to issue fines and
other seas around the world”. Next, Laurence Boetti- introducing innovative monitoring technologies;
Forestier, Regional Councillor for Cross-Border
Relations, noted that the region is “a model for 2/ Building a sustainable fishing industry by
environmental planning in Europe”, boasting a zero banning trawling, establishing a no-take corridor
plastic initiative, Clean Harbours certification and the in the Pelagos Sanctuary based on scientific data,
recently established Parliament of the Sea, among introducing a moratorium on certain species and
other achievements. Geoffroy Chatelard, Head of encouraging efforts to rebuild fish stocks (for example,
Wealth Management Marketing at UBS Monaco & using artificial reefs made from organic materials);
Iberia, described the area, whose waters span three
neighbouring countries (France, Monaco and Italy) 3/ Alleviating noise pollution by immediately
and are home to eight species of Mediterranean introducing speed limits (< 10 knots) in territorial waters
marine mammals, as “our garden”. (within 12 nautical miles of the coast), equipping boats
with ‘black boxes’, a ground-breaking way to monitor
Twenty-five years after the Pelagos Agreement and analyse noise pollution, distributing navigation
first came into existence, defining the area for charts that clearly mark the boundaries of the Pelagos
conservation and establishing a framework for its Sanctuary and recommend speed limits, and creating a
cross-border governance, a series of opening talks network that includes the recreational and competitive
at the forum reflected on the current situation and sailing communities;
reaffirmed the main conservation goals in what
Maher Mahjoub, Director of the IUCN Centre for 4/ Leveraging sustainable tourism to devise new
Mediterranean Cooperation, described as “an funding mechanisms, such as eco-taxes levied on
exceptional marine environment and sanctuary of tourist activities (as seen in Greece and the Seychelles)
biodiversity, from plankton to cetaceans”. He pointed or payments for ecosystem services.
out the sanctuary’s designation in 2002 as a Specially
Protected Area of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMI) These productive discussions on tomorrow’s
under the Barcelona Convention, “so that it may challenges underlined our collective responsibility for
safeguard habitats that are crucial to endangered protecting an exceptional marine environment which,
species, as an area of scientific, aesthetic, cultural despite seeing intense human activity, provides a home
and educational value”. In addition, noted Viola to almost every species of marine mammal found in
Cattani, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Pelagos the Mediterranean.
Agreement, it “has fostered other important initiatives,
like the creation of a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area
that stretches from north-east Spain to north-west
Italy, covering the Pelagos Sanctuary. This official
PSSA designation in 2023 was a significant step
forward”.