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40 / MONACO’S ACTIONS TO PROTECT THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA

The Mediterranean accounts for 0.7% of the world’s ocean but is home
to nearly 10% of its known species.

MARINE PROTECTED AREAS
The allies of marine

biodiversity

On March 31, 2017, during the first Monaco Ocean Week, the major marine

protected area (MPA) actors were invited to the Oceanographic Museum

to present Mediterranean MPAs in all their specificity and importance for

sustainable management of the ocean and coasts.

In 15 years, the Mediterranean surface declared
as protected has been tripled, with 1,158 Marine SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN
Protected Areas (MPAs) and other spatial conser-
vation measures. However, this encouraging BENEFITS
figure is misleading: the great majority of MPAs
are located along the northern shore of the Medi- The Mediterranean is also an area of intensive
terranean, and only a few dozen are, or include, urbanization, mass tourism, navigation and an-
no-take areas (which are very small). Furthermore, chorage, all of which have heavy impacts. This is
too many remain “paper parks” due to a lack of why protection measures are necessary. “Scien-
effective surveillance to ensure their protection. tists have proven the direct and indirect benefits
of MPAs,” Paolo Guidetti explained. “They have
MPAs are essential for preserving marine ecosys- noted an increase in fish populations’ abundance,
tems. ”One third of global fish stocks are depleted size and diversity both in no-take and buffer
due to overfishing,” noted Paolo Guidetti, direc- zones.”
tor of the ECOMERS laboratory of the University
of Nice Sophia Antipolis. In addition to industrial In time, the recovery of predator populations in
fishing, the Mediterranean is subject to extensive the food chain allows macro-algal forests to be
leisure and small-scale as well as illegal fishing, regenerated. “We mustn’t overlook the fact that
the latter of which accounts for an estimated MPAs bring positive effects to areas around them,
20%. Without the large fish that are their natural as fish and larvae move out of their borders, thus
predators, certain species such as sea urchins benefiting to local fishing and biodiversity on a
proliferate, contributing to the destruction of the large scale,” he said. Though small MPAs may not
algal forests they feed on and turning the rocky protect as extensively as large ones, they are still
ocean floor into a marine desert. effective for certain species, even in urban areas
such as the Larvotto marine protected area in
Monaco. “Monaco’s MPAs are characterized by
their small size, by being in heavily urban areas
and in being entirely protected, as no capture is
permitted,” Monaco MPAs’ director Jacqueline
Gautier-Debernadi explained.