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2.2 Historical background

The Mediterranean Sea has been central to human civilization for millennia, and as such has been
better travelled and longer studied than any other ocean body. Yet much of the ocean basin
remains a mystery, in terms of knowledge about ecological processes, the distribution and
abundance of marine organisms, the condition of its ecosystems, and the drivers of biodiversity
loss.

Mediterranean Sea-wide assessments have been carried out in the last several decades, including
those undertaken under the aegis of United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank
(notably the first Mediterranean Environment Programme, World Bank Report of 1993 and
subsequent METAP reports). Most of these assessments, however, focused on the nearshore and
the riparian influences of polluted freshwater reaching Mediterranean shores. The latter body of
knowledge led to the development of the Blue Plan – yet high seas areas continue to lack
attention.

A notable exception was the creation of the Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine
Mammals. When in March of 1991 Tethys presented “Project Pelagos” to the public in Monaco, it
had the support of local businessmen in the Rotary Club chapters in Italy (Milan), Monaco and
France (Saint Tropez), and the European Association Rotary for the Environment. Prince Rainier
III of Monaco received the proposal enthusiastically and granted support of the Principality. It was
Prince Rainier III who then championed the idea that a sanctuary for cetaceans be eventually
created in the Ligurian-Corsican-Provencal basin through a trilateral agreement among France,
Italy and Monaco (Notarbartolo di Sciara et al. 2008).

Another exception to the lack of attention characterising the Mediterranean High Seas concerns
the 2005 decision by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) to ban
trawling on Mediterranean bottoms below the depth of 1,000 m, which includes the greatest portion
of the Mediterranean High Seas seafloor; and the 2006 designation by the GFCM of three
ecologically important areas off-limits to bottom trawling and dredges, which are all or in part within
the high seas: i.) A 10,295 km2 wide area surrounding the Eratosthenes seamount south of Cyprus;
ii.) A 976 km2 wide deepwater coral (Lophelia) reef off Capo Santa Maria di Leuca, Italy, in the
Ionian Sea; and iii.) A 4,374 km2 wide area of cold hydrocarbon seeps and associated
chemosynthetic communities offshore from the Nile Delta.

Recent attention has focused on previously ignored high seas areas, including widely distributed
and ecologically significant seamounts. Greenpeace (2004), in a report on Mediterranean marine
reserves, flagged 32 priority sites that were suggested worthy of MPA designations, and many of
these extend beyond territorial waters (Fig. 2-2).