Page 4 - Greco_ali_2004

S122 S. GRECO ET AL.

In order to meet the challenge of undertaking simultaneous surveys and to foster co-operation among
scientists at the national level, ICRAM has sought the collaboration of a large number of scientific
partners, mostly within the National Consortium of Marine Science Institutes of the University system
(CoNISMa) and the National Research Council (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche: CNR). These include
institutes from the Universities of Cagliari, Genoa, Lecce, Messina, Naples, Palermo and Siena and the
CNR institutes IRMA (Castellamare del Golfo) and IST (Messina).

Furthermore, an International Advisory Committee, comprising international experts in the field of
MPA science, provides advice on research standardization.

After the first 3 yr phase (2001–2004), it is envisaged that ‘Sistema Afrodite’ will continue encompassing
the entire suite of Italian MPAs, extending its scope to other MPA systems within the Mediterranean
region. To this purpose, the European Commission (General Directorate for Scientific Research) founded
an international workshop in summer 2002 to evaluate ways for extending the research protocol and
direction of ‘Sistema Afrodite’ to the Mediterranean area.

It is hoped that ‘Sistema Afrodite’ will provide a template on standardizing research throughout the
Mediterranean, thus catalysing the creation of unified operating networks integrated within a true system of
Mediterranean MPAs. At the moment, however, the field activities have only recently finished, and it is too
early to have a critical analysis of the project and of all the results gathered.

REFERENCES

Agardy T. 2000. Effects of fisheries on marine ecosystems: a conservationist’s perspective. ICES Journal of Marine
Science 57: 761–765.

Connor DW, Allen JH, Golding N, Lieberknecht LM, Northen KO, Reker JB. 2003. The national marine habitat
classification for Britain and Ireland. Version 03.02. Introductory text. Joint Nature Conservation Committee,
Peterborough. www.jncc.gov.uk/marinehabitatclassification [February 2004].

Eagles PFJ, McCool SF, Haynes CDA. 2002. Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas: Guidelines for Planning and
Management. IUCN: Gland, Switzerland/Cambridge, UK.

Fogarty M, Sissenwine M, Cohen E. 1991. Recruitment variability and the dynamics of the exploited populations.
Trends in Ecology and Evolution 6(8): 241–246.

Harmelin-Vivien ML, Harmelin JG, Chauvet C, Duval C, Galzin R, Lejeune P, Barnabe G, Blanc F, Chevalier R. 1985.
The underwater observation of fish communities and fish populations: methods and problems. Revue d’Ecologie la
Terre et la Vie 40: 467–540.

Murray SN, Ambrose RF, Bohnsack JA, Botsford W, Carr MH, Davis GE, Dayton PK, Gotshall D, Gunderson D,
Hixon MA, Lubchenco J, Mangel M, MacCall A, McArdle DA, Ogden JC, Roughgarden J, Starr RM, Tegner MJ,
Yoklavich MM. 1999. No-take reserve networks: protection for fishery populations and marine ecosystems. Fisheries
(Bethesda) 24(11): 11–25.

Roberts CM, Hawkins JP. 2000. Fully-protected marine reserves: a guide. WWF Endangered Seas Campaign, 1250
24th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037, USA and Environment Department, University of York, York, YO10
5DD, UK.

Salm RV, Clark JR, Siirila E. 2000. Marine and Coastal Protected Areas: A Guide for Planners and Managers. IUCN:
Washington, DC.

Tunesi L, Diviacco G. 1993. Environmental and socio-economic criteria for the establishment of marine coastal parks.
International Journal of Environmental Studies 43: 253–259.

Villa F, Tunesi L, Agardy T. 2002. Optimal zoning of marine protected areas through spatial multiple criteria analysis:
the case of the Asinara Island National Marine Reserve of Italy. Conservation Biology 16(2): 1–12.

Ward TJ, Heinemann D, Evans N. 2001. The Role of Marine Reserves as Fisheries Management Tools: A Review of
Concepts, Evidence and International Experience. Bureau of Rural Sciences: Canberra, Australia.

Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Aquatic Conserv: Mar. Freshw. Ecosyst. 14: S119–S122 (2004)