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AQUATIC CONSERVATION: MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS
       Aquatic Conserv: Mar. Freshw. Ecosyst. 14: S119–S122 (2004)
                       Published online in Wiley InterScience
             (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/aqc.656

                VIEWPOINT

    ‘Sistema Afrodite’: an integrated programme for the
inventorying and monitoring of the core zones of the Italian

                       marine protected areas

SILVESTRO GRECO, GIUSEPPE NOTARBARTOLO DI SCIARA and LEONARDO TUNESI*
                                        ICRAM, via di Casalotti, 300, I-00166 Rome, Italy

                                                        ABSTRACT

   1. The importance of the application of science in designing, monitoring and managing a marine
protected area (MPA) is stressed.

   2. ‘Sistema Afrodite’, the project to create a uniform knowledge base for the identification of a
national system of Italian MPAs and to foster co-operation among scientists at national level and to
set the foundations for a regional/Mediterranean network of MPAs, is described.
Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

KEY WORDS: marine protected areas; research protocol; protection effect; monitoring system

                                                        INTRODUCTION

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are recognized as a main tool for accomplishing a broad spectrum of
objectives related both to nature conservation and protection of key habitats and species, support of local
communities and nature-based tourism (Salm et al., 2000; Eagles et al., 2002), and the sustainable
management of fisheries (Murray et al., 1999; Agardy, 2000; Ward et al., 2001).

   Italian legislation (Laws 979/1982 and 394/1991) stipulated the establishment of a series of more than 50
coastal and marine sites requiring protection, and 16 national MPAs had been created around the Italian
coast by 2002.

   The Italian MPAs are multiple-use protected areas conventionally implemented according to three
different protection levels (Tunesi and Diviacco, 1993), typically including one or more core zones (i.e. no-
entry, no-take reserves), and are structured as follows:

* Integral reserve (A). Only authorized personnel have permission to enter the reserve for monitoring,
   research and maintenance purposes.

*Correspondence to: L. Tunesi, ICRAM, via di Casalotti, 300, I-00166 Rome, Italy. E-mail: l.tunesi@icram.org

Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.                            Accepted 18 June 2004
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