MED-BIOWATCH
A participatory research and marine education project in the protected areas of the Tyrrhenian Sea, working with divers, freedivers, visitors and schools.
Next MED-BIOWATCH Week
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225 days to go.
Opening with World Oceans Day (8 June): a simultaneous BioBlitz in every location, open to the public and to schools.
The sea as a shared laboratory
MED-BIOWATCH turns the sea outings of diving centres into a network for observing marine biodiversity, repeatable over time and comparable across Tyrrhenian areas with very different levels of protection. Alongside the research, it brings the sea into schools and schools into the sea.
During the summer season dozens of people enter the water every day at the same spots. With short training, a closed list of easily recognised species and a standard recording sheet, those dives and swims become georeferenced data, collected on the same days in every location, validated by a researcher and returned to the management bodies and to the public.
The project began at Area 11 Diving Center in La Maddalena, in partnership with Plastic Jumper, and covers four locations: La Maddalena, Giglio and Giannutri, Argentario and Ustica. To find out more, read The project, look at the map of stations or see how to take part.
The project in numbers
- 4 study areas in the Tyrrhenian Sea
- 29 proposed stations, to be validated with the authorities
- 5 Weeks of simultaneous surveys in 2027
The study areas
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La Maddalena
A land and sea national park in the Strait of Bonifacio. Pilot site and project base.
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Giglio e Giannutri
Tuscan Archipelago National Park: one island protected on land, one protected at sea too, a few kilometres apart.
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Argentario
Valuable sea beds with no marine protection zone, facing the Park islands.
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Ustica
Italy's first marine protected area: forty years of protection as a benchmark.