ISPRA Conducts Cetacean Monitoring under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the LIFE MareNatura Project

The first survey session of ISPRA’s aerial monitoring activities carried out under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and the LIFE MareNatura project has been successfully completed. These aerial surveys are aimed at estimating the population size of cetacean species inhabiting the seas surrounding Italy and the Ionian Sea.

The monitoring activities conducted by ISPRA under the MSFD constitute Italy’s official national cetacean monitoring programme. Together with the activities carried out within the LIFE MareNatura project, they represent Italy’s contribution to the international commitments undertaken within the framework of ACCOBAMS (the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area), while also contributing to the broader ACCOBAMS Survey Initiative (ASI).