Managing Body
The Marine Protected Area (MPA) of the Egadi Islands, with an extension of 53,992 hectares, is the largest marine reserve in the Mediterranean.
Located in the Canal of Sicily, in front of the northwest coast of the island, it surrounds the Egadi archipelago, including the islands of Favignana, Levanzo and Marettimo and the islets of Formica and Maraone. Established in 1991, since 2001 it has been managed by the Municipality of Favignana, on behalf of the Ministry for the Environment and the Protection of the Territory and the Sea.
The institutional mission of the MPA is the protection and enhancement of the marine environment as well as the promotion of environmental education, users awareness, research and monitoring, coastal zone integrated management and sustainable development, with a particular focus on the eco-compatibility of tourism.
It is is divided into four zones (A, B, C and D) with different levels of protection and with different accessibility and limitations in usability.
All tourist activities (bathing, sailing, anchoring, mooring, diving, recreational fishing) or commercial activities (professional fishing and nautical services) are permitted and regulated in accordance with the MPA Regulations and the Rules drawn up annually by the Managing Body.
The Marine Protected Area is a member of Federparchi and of the MedPan network, it is twinned with the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary (California, USA) and it constantly works in synergy with the largest environmental associations in Italy as well as with local associations.
The Managing Body has launched in recent years a process of management, monitoring and control of the territory based on the participation and sharing of local stakeholders. Research, study and monitoring projects are underway with the collaboration of numerous national research bodies (ISPRA, ENEA, CNR, University of Palermo, CoNISMa). With regard to surveillance, prevention and control at sea, the MPA activates every summer a fleet of 4 naval units, operating daily, in support of the surveillance activities carried out by the competent authorities (Coast Guard, Municipal Police, Carabinieri, Penitentiary Police, Finance Guard and State Police).
During 2013, the Ministry for the Environment has assessed the management of the state funds by the MPA as the best one among all 27 marine protected areas. As far as funding is concerned, the MPA carries out planning for participation in regional, national and community tenders, finances itself with the proceeds coming from permits, entry tickets and sanctions, and it has also activated various sponsorships and forms of fundraising.
Among the main projects and activities carried out by the MPA, we mention the project 'MASTER' for the positioning of anti-trawling and restocking stop/net bollards, aimed at reducing the impact of illegal inshore trawling which damages the seabed and depletes fish resources; implemented in Favignana and Levanzo, it had remarkable results (-50% infringements, based on blue-box data). The phase 2 of the project, regarding Levanzo, was completed in 2015; the phase 3, regarding Marettimo, is currently underway.
Also, 14 additional mooring fields were established in the 3 islands, in as many areas identified as "sensitive", for a total of 150 anchor buoys active during the summer season in order to prevent from damages to the seabed caused by the anchors as well as ensure the chance to moor in the most beautiful bays, with great pleasure of the yachtsmen, who represent one of the most significant economic turn over for the islands.
In collaboration with ENEA, the MPA created a label for the environmental certification of tourist services (accommodation, catering, rental of boats, cars, motorcycles and bicycles, sightseeing cruises, sea and land transport, fishing, diving, bathing establishments, mooring services), to which over 70 local operators have already adhered.
Thanks to the project for the monitoring of the protected species "Guardians of the Sea" (Vedette del Mare), all 40 professional fishing boats of the archipelago have been involved for two years.
At the Castle of Punta Troia in Marettimo, owned by the Municipality of Favignana and destined to be a Museum of prisons, a "Monk Seal Observatory" was created, which is now a visiting centre and a site for the study and stay of researchers engaged in the monitoring of the species.
At the prestigious Palazzo Florio of Favignana, a Sea Turtle Rescue Centre was established, which is run in collaboration with WWF Italia and Legambiente and will be strengthened through the project Life + 2012 TartaLife in order to become a turtle recovery centre.
The MPA has been a partner of the project "ENPI CBC Med-Jellyrisk" for monitoring and mitigating the proliferation of jellyfish along the coastal areas of the Mediterranean, with the placement of three anti-jellyfish experimental networks.
Thanks to the project "Fishermen and dolphins" (- Pescatori e delfini -), with a view to mitigating the potential conflicts between fishery and cetaceans, fishermen have regained their turtle-damaged nets.
Through the project "Egadi", carried out by Enea, other subprojects have been carried out for the study of coastal morphology, bathymetries, fish fauna, water column, stability of the coasts, as well as for environmental analysis, management of beach-cast Posidonia and environmental certification. The Project received an award at the SMAU (the major Italian exhibition dedicated to Information & Communications Technology) in 2015.
For the management of beach-cast Posidonia Oceanica, a project titled "Gerin" was carried out together with ENEA, which planned phases of removal of Posidonia with sustainable techniques, the re-use in polyfunctional bio-structures for tourism purposes, the replanting on the seabed with low-cost techniques and the drafting of a regulation for the management of Posidonia Oceanica. The GERIN Project obtained the Green Coast Award at the 2013 RemTech.
In 2015 a project with the start-up Egadi Cosmesi was launched, for the cosmetic use of the active ingredients contained in the Posidonia Oceanica collected in the Egadi. The start-up will promote products with the MPA logo and co-finance some environmental protection projects.
The MPA is also actively involved in promoting responsible tourism and eco-sustainable sports such as sailing, windsurfing, kayaking, swimtrekking, triathlon, cyclotourism, trekking and climbing. In 2016 it received the Oscar for Ecotourism, released by Legambiente and Federparchi.
Overall, in recent years, the Egadi Islands MPA has consolidated its role of advanced laboratory for the sustainable management of the coastal strip, developing some good practices that have received appreciation at national and regional level, also being replicated in other realities or recommended by the Ministry for the Environment. The Egadi MPA has also become an interesting case of territorial marketing in terms of eco-sustainability.