Development of Common Conservation Strategies for Cetaceans and Sea

PARTNERS CONTACTS

What have we produced thanks to NETCET? • City of Venice (IT) - coordinator City of Venice • University of Padua, Department of European Policies Division Comparative Biomedicine and 13 partners from 5 different countries facing the Adriatic Sea have worked side by [email protected] Food Science (IT) to develop common [email protected] side in order to become a compact coherent team with the same aim: • City of Pescara (IT) strategies for the conservation of the cetaceans and sea turtles living in our sea. www.facebook.com/NETCETproject • Cetacea Foundation (IT) www.netcet.eu • Italian National Institute for Environmental monitoring by plane, boat and Step by step, one project activity has led to another: Protection and Research (IT) Network for the Conservation of Cetaceans satellite has provided fundamental data to identify the distribution and abundance of these • State Institute for Nature Protection (HR) and Sea Turtles in the Adriatic protected species; the creation of tailored databases to collect information on stranded • Blue World Institute of Marine Research animals along the Adriatic coast has become a platform for exchange between experts and and Conservation (HR) specialists trained within the project. All of these activities have led to the proposal for an • Herpetofauna Albanian Society (AL) Adriatic Emergency Task Force capable of intervening in the event of a mass stranding. • Association for Protection of Aquatic Wildlife of Albania (AL) NETCET has also facilitated the development of emergency and rehabilitation centres • Institute for Marine Biology (MNE) for sea turtles and contributed to the improvement of existing equipment. Finally, the project • University of Primorska, Science and has increased general public awareness on cetacean & sea turtle conservation through Research Centre (SI) This brochure has been produced dissemination activities targeting fishermen, boat drivers, students and citizens. • WWF Italy (IT) with the financial assistance of OUR • Marine Educational Centre Pula (HR) the IPA Adriatic Cross-Border Cooperation Programme. The RESULTS Thanks to the IPA Adriatic CBC Programme, we have been able to finance all of these activities ASSOCIATES contents of this brochure are and develop baseline data as a starting point for future projects aimed at ensuring the future of the sole responsibility of the biodiversity of the Adriatic Sea. • Institute for Nature Conservation of the City of Venice and can under no circumstances be regarded as Republic of Slovenia (SI) reflecting the position of the IPA • Veneto Region – Forestry and Parks Adriatic Cross-Border Cooperation Department (IT) Programme Authorities. • Emilia Romagna Region – General Directorate for Environment and for Soil and Coast Protection (IT) • Marche Region – Animal Protection, Regional Ecological (IT) The project is co-founded by the European Union, Instrument for

www.achabgroup.it Pre-Accession Assistance.

give impetus for the implementation of the existing NAPs. existing the of implementation the for impetus give •

define new NAPs and receive official approval from the competent Ministries competent the from approval official receive and NAPs new define • Region and the ACCOBAMS strategy for cetaceans 2014-2025. cetaceans for strategy ACCOBAMS the and Region

implementation systems were reviewed in the five NETCET Adriatic countries. countries. Adriatic NETCET five the in reviewed were systems implementation

detect the key elements to improve in the existing NAPs existing the in improve to elements key the detect • 2020, the EU biodiversity strategy 2010-2020, the EU strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Ionian and Adriatic the for strategy EU the 2010-2020, strategy biodiversity EU the 2020,

national legislation, institutional frameworks, existing conservation mechanisms and their their and mechanisms conservation existing frameworks, institutional legislation, national

es in order to: order in es turtl sea and cetaceans with dealing stakeholders the all and These objectives are linked to global and regional strategies, such as the Aichi targets 2011- targets Aichi the as such strategies, regional and global to linked are objectives These

was collected: collected: was the on information Furthermore, threats. and

existing human capacity human existing

meetings in their countries (Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Albania) with Ministries Ministries with Albania) and Montenegro Croatia, Slovenia, (Italy, countries their in meetings

in the Adriatic Sea: abundance, distribution distribution abundance, Sea: Adriatic the in

knowledge of cetaceans and sea turtles sea and cetaceans of knowledge

Throughout the implementation of the NETCET project, partners have organized consultation consultation organized have partners project, NETCET the of implementation the Throughout

The activity began with the preparation of a complete complete a of preparation the with began activity The

overview of the present state of of state present the of overview Ensure adequate funding adequate Ensure

AND CEATACEAN CONSERVATION IN THE NETCET COUNTRIES NETCET THE IN CONSERVATION CEATACEAN AND

NATIONAL ACTION PLANS (NAPs) FOR SEA TURTLE TURTLE SEA FOR (NAPs) PLANS ACTION NATIONAL Raise awareness Raise

and humans to coexist” to humans and

6 . Adriatic country Adriatic sea turtles sea cetaceans, for place safe a is Adriatic “The

Improve human capacities for consistent conservation within the Adriatic Sea Adriatic the within conservation consistent for capacities human Improve

should be used as used be should

guidelines for the development of National Action Plans in each each in Plans Action National of development the for guidelines

: following the realize to order in actions

common vision common

In addition, these Strategies, which are being prepared or revised under the NETCET project, project, NETCET the under revised or prepared being are which Strategies, these addition, In

5 purpose of these documents is to transform existing resources into concrete conservation conservation concrete into resources existing transform to is documents these of purpose

adequacy of targeted protected areas for the conservation of sea turtles in the Adriatic Sea Adriatic the in turtles sea of conservation the for areas protected targeted of adequacy

are included into other strategies and documents developed for the Adriatic Sea. Adriatic the for developed documents and strategies other into included are in the Adriatic Sea, developing appropriate Strategies for the next decade (2016 – 2025). The The 2025). – (2016 decade next the for Strategies appropriate developing Sea, Adriatic the in

Ensure effective conservation of important habitats for cetaceans, and understand the understand and cetaceans, for habitats important of conservation effective Ensure

this reason this

it is important to make sure that the proposed objectives and actions actions and objectives proposed the that sure make to important is it

NETCET partners have identified the future conservation needs of cetaceans and sea turtles turtles sea and cetaceans of needs conservation future the identified have partners NETCET

development and implementation of common strategies for conservation of these species. For For species. these of conservation for strategies common of implementation and development

atic Sea atic Adri the within framework legal conservation common a Establish

the Adriatic Sea. However, there is no international institution/organisation responsible for the the for responsible institution/organisation international no is there However, Sea. Adriatic the

in the Adriatic Sea Adriatic the in

governmental organisations are managing the conservation of sea turtles and cetaceans in in cetaceans and turtles sea of conservation the managing are organisations governmental

Enhance cooperation between different stakeholders different between cooperation Enhance strategies for cetaceans and sea turtles turtles sea and cetaceans for strategies t rsn te ainl aue osrain oenetl ois isiuin ad non- and institutions bodies, governmental conservation nature national the present At

Development of common conservation conservation common of Development

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STRATEGIES THE OF IMPLEMENTATION Reduce impacts of threats, particularly interaction with fisheries with interaction particularly threats, of impacts Reduce

1 dissemination).

Improve knowledge about cetaceans and sea turtles sea and cetaceans about knowledge Improve

(www.netcet.eu/

are available in the form of two booklets on the project website project the on booklets two of form the in available are

The common Strategies for Conservation of Cetaceans and Sea Turtles will will Turtles Sea and Cetaceans of Conservation for Strategies common The

significant threat, a number of high priority activities were proposed to address this issue. this address to proposed were activities priority high of number a threat, significant

and related targets were defined. were targets related and by humans”. Since interactions with fisheries, such as by-catch, are identified as the most most the as identified are by-catch, as such fisheries, with interactions Since humans”. by 8 objectives 8

ideal future for cetaceans and sea turtles in the Adriatic Sea: for each group of species, species, of group each for Sea: Adriatic the in turtles sea and cetaceans for future ideal the impact of threats, one of the targets is “to decrease mortality rate and injuries caused caused injuries and rate mortality decrease “to is targets the of one threats, of impact the

The analysis of the present state of knowledge and capacity has allowed us to identify an an identify to us allowed has capacity and knowledge of state present the of analysis The A plan of action was prepared to achieve each objective. For example, in order to reduce reduce to order in example, For objective. each achieve to prepared was action of plan A

IDENTIFYING ACTIONS AND PRIORITIES AND ACTIONS IDENTIFYING OBJECTIVES Conservation developments for the Adriatic Sea NETCET City Network Emergency centre Rehabilitation A network of cities along the Adriatic First aid for injured centre coast with the aim of raising awareness sea turtles (maximum Assistance for Handling and emergency tools for the conservation of sea turtles and stay: 48 hours before sea turtles in the cetaceans. See more at: the transfer to a hospitalization or One of the first NETCET initiatives was to create a scientific network with experts from different Grado Trieste www.netcet.eu/city-network rehabilitation centre) convalescence phase research fields within the Adriatic basin in order to share knowledge and experience, and Caorle Koper develop common databases for reporting strandings. This network helps scientists to Venice Jesolo observe any increase in mortality of animals living in the Adriatic Sea and to follow common 2 Rijeka protocols and strategies to face emergencies. Chioggia MALI LOŠINJ - CROATIA Adriatic Emergency Task Force NETCET has also put in place an . It is a group of experts VENICE - ITALY 10 The Blue World Institute sea 11 (biologists and veterinarians) in cetacean and sea turtle (C&ST) sciences such as behaviour, 9 turtle rehabilitation center is The sea turtle emergency centre Pula physiology, rescue and medicine, trained to intervene in case of environmental incidents, is composed of 3 tanks and located in the middle of the such as unusual mortality events or mass strandings. They act as a specialist team to support a laboratory equipped with tourist complex in ‘Sunny national authorities. The first incident took place in September 2014 in Vasto (Italy) where seven veterinary first aid tools. An office PULA - CROATIA Bay’ Mali Lošinj and has the sperm whales stranded on the beach. More than eighty members of the task force worked Mali Lošinj capacity to host 4 injured has also been set up to collect 4 together to try to save these stranded animals. data on sea turtles. turtles, for short term recovery. 3 In parallel 133 veterinarians have benefited from training programmes on veterinary operations Zadar and stranding management for cetaceans and sea 12 turtles. Fano Standard protocols for post-mortem and physical 5 examination of C&ST were produced and distributed. © Blue World Institute PATOK – ALBANIA 6 Reference textbooks on veterinarian operations Numana The centre is composed of 2 for specialists working with cetaceans and sea turtles 1 rooms: a laboratory equipped were produced and distributed to the relevant users. with veterinary first aid tools RICCIONE - ITALY © Paolo Cipriani Pedaso and 2 two tanks, a conference room with a capacity of 50 8 Sea turtles San Benedetto del Tronto people for awareness raising and cetaceans © CNR-Ancona lectures. www.adriaticseaturtles.eu www.marinemammals.eu/ 7 databases database_spiaggiamenti Roseto degli Abruzzi NUMANA - ITALY Pineto Dubrovnik A protected marine area has been Pescara Kotor set up to monitor recovering sea Tivat turtles before their release. Budva

Adriatic Sea monitoring Centres set up thanks to the NETCET project: Emergency Rehabilitation Ulcinj NETCET monitoring activities inform us that the Adriatic Sea is The results of the centres centres more important for cetaceans and sea turtles than ever imagined before. Existing emergency or rehabilitation centres Manfredonia Patok The aerial survey (over 14,000 km in 100 hours surveys) has provided an overview of the improved thanks to the NETCET project: use of the Adriatic Sea by these species and revealed that the Northern Adriatic is particularly 1 Brač Island (Croatia) 7 Dubrovnik (Croatia) important for sea turtles. This was confirmed by the satellite tracking of 20 juvenile 2 Rijeka (Croatia) 8 Korčula Island (Croatia) loggerhead turtles (JLT) and 3 green turtles (GT) which proved that JLT remain in the Adriatic Sea with seasonal movements strongly dependent on the Northern Adriatic foraging 3 Zadar (Croatia) 9 Lošinj (Croatia) GT move to warmer waters of the Southern Adriatic during winter grounds, and . 4 Pag Island (Croatia) 10 Krk (Croatia) PESCARA - ITALY The sea turtle rehabilitation centre has 5 Šibenik (Croatia) 11 Pula (Croatia) Through an on-line system, everyone can follow the movements of the “NETCET” turtles: been set up with a convalescence and Brindisi www.seaturtle.org/tracking/?project_id=1021 6 Split (Croatia) 12 Riccione (Italy) isolation area equipped with 15 tanks. Vlore and two centres in Zagreb (Croatia): Croatian Veterinary The centre has also an area dedicated The aerial survey also showed a diversity of cetaceans in the region with large numbers Institute (CVI) & University of Veterinary Medicine (UVM) to educational activities and a space for Orikum of striped dolphins and the presence of Cuvier’s beaked whales in the Southern conferences and trainings addressed to Adriatic Sea. Bottlenose dolphin populations were monitored through consistent photo- professionals. NETCET City Network identification studies (over 500 hours of boat surveys) in all the Adriatic countries. Analysis shows that each of these population is unique with little mixing between them. Awareness 100 public releases of sea turtles More than 4.000 leisure boat At individual level, stranded animals attended by over 10,000 people. owners informed about how to drive were also examined and causes campaigns and behave around cetaceans and sea turtles of death analysed for both mass around the 2 million inhabitants reached to minimize their disturbance. and individual beaching. by mass-media about the conservation of sea Adriatic turtles and cetaceans. Over 3.000 schoolchildren living along the Adriatic coast taught about the Follow the More than 700 fishermen made conservation of these species using a dedicated © WWF “NETCET” aware of the impact of their activity on sea turtles, educational kit. turtles and of the correct procedures to rescue animals