For years, an epidemic has been exterminating the species throughout the Mediterranean. The latest monitoring in the marine protected area found only dead specimens. Yesterday, a pleasant surprise occurred during operations for the European Life Sea Net project.
A live silvertip reef shark (Pina nobilis) lives on the seabed of the Punta Campanella Marine Protected Area, off the Sorrento Peninsula. This sighting was common up until 10 years ago, but not now, given the epidemic that is exterminating the species everywhere.
The presence of the sea stingray, commonly known as the noble fin, came as a surprise to MPA staff, who were engaged yesterday in monitoring activities for the European Life Sea.Net project.
"This is a surprising sighting, given the grave situation affecting the noble fin whale, and it demonstrates the importance of monitoring activities in marine protected areas," emphasized Lucio De Maio, Director of the Punta Campanella MPA.
We are involved in several projects to protect the rich biodiversity present in our sea, such as Life Sea.Net, which gives us the opportunity to monitor and record several species essential to ecosystems, under the supervision of ISPRA (the Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research), to which we have communicated the presence of the viable specimen. Further investigations will be conducted together with ISPRA and we will verify the presence of any other live noble fin whales in the area.
Four years ago, in the last monitoring of the species, no live specimens had been found, only 70 dead Castanets on the seabed of Punta Campanella, as in many other Italian, Spanish and coastal seabeds. Mediterranean, the only sea in which the bivalve mollusc lives.
Since 2016, an epidemic that started in Spain has wiped out the species everywhere.
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The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) promptly reclassified the species as critically endangered, the highest threat level short of extinction. It could soon disappear from the Mediterranean and therefore from the planet, being endemic to our seas.
In recent years, numerous research and monitoring projects have been launched to try to save it, including the Action Plan for Pinna and LifePinna. The goal is to monitor and protect surviving individuals and develop captive breeding techniques to repopulate specific areas with disease-resistant individuals.
A race against time for the survival of a species that has been present in our seas for millions of years. It is the largest bivalve mollusc in the Mediterranean and is a filter-feeding animal that plays an essential role in marine ecosystems, constituting colonizable habitats for many other organisms.
The presence of this living specimen in the open sea of the Punta Campanella Marine Protected Area could offer new hope for the survival of the species. The Pinna nobilis, approximately 40 cm long, survived the epidemic.
It was spotted and photographed during monitoring activities as part of the European project Life Sea.Net, co-funded by the European Commission and coordinated by Legambiente, with the aim of improving the management of marine Natura 2000 sites and raising awareness of them. The Punta Campanella Marine Protected Area is a project partner and manages the Natura 2000 site "Seabeds of Punta Campanella and Capri."
“The discovery of this specimen of Pinna nobilis in our seas is further proof that projects like Life Sea.Net, which bring together protected areas, institutions, administrations, and scientific research organizations, are of fundamental importance for increasing knowledge of the marine biodiversity of the Mediterranean.
This sighting also reminds us that protected areas and Natura 2000 sites are a precious resource for protecting endangered species and habitats. For this reason, we must increasingly commit to increasing the percentage of protected marine territory by 2030, as Europe is also asking us to do,” comments Federica Barbera of Legambiente's biodiversity office.
