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108 Gianmarco Ingrosso et al.

EU Habitat Directive. However, the available information regarding the
current status of these deep-water communities at Mediterranean scale
indicates a 40%–50% decline over the last 50–60 years, mostly due to bottom
trawling (Orejas et al., 2009). As a result, more incisive protection measures
and good management strategies are urgently needed (Otero et al., 2017).
Finally, L. byssoides, coralligenous, C. caespitosa banks, vermetid, sabellariid
and sepulid reefs are also included in the European Red List of Habitats
(Gubbay et al., 2016).

5. GUIDELINES AND RECOMMENDATIONS: A HOLISTIC
APPROACH TO SUPPORT MANAGEMENT AND
CONSERVATION STRATEGIES

The two main marine protection tactics enforced in Italy comprise
nationally designated MPAs and Sites of Community Importance (SCIs)
as part of the Natura 2000 network. On the one hand, the Ministry of
the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea designates Italian MPAs,
as the marine counterpart of Italian National Parks. Typically, they all have a
management plan, a president, a director, a staff and a budget. On the other
hand, Italian Regions, based on the EU Habitats Directive, designate the
SCIs that, in most cases, have neither a management plan and budget nor
a staff of any kind. The protection of the marine environment is further
enforced through an entangled multitude of initiatives, usually termed as
OECMs (Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures) (IUCN-
WCPA, 2018). Currently, the harmonization of protection tactics into a
single strategy involves the extension of MPAs so as to comprise most SCIs.
This will allow for a consistent management. The enforcement of protec-
tion, indeed, distinguishes “real” MPAs, where protection is enforced, from
“paper parks” (Guidetti et al., 2008), where measures are simply on paper.
The Italian situation is rapidly changing and it is not useful now to provide
precise data that will soon be outdated. In general, many Italian MPAs have
been designated where seascapes are particularly attractive for scuba divers
and “beauty” has been the main reason for their proposal (Boero, 2017b).
Since bioconstructions, and especially coralligenous ones, are particularly
spectacular, many MPAs include bioconstructions. Italian Regions, instead,
focused the designation of SCIs almost only on Posidonia meadows, but
their attention is now turning towards bioconstructions as part of the
“reef” category of the EU Habitats Directive (Fraschetti et al., 2009).