The IUCN Center for Mediterranean Cooperation (IUCN Med) in cooperation with Enalia Physis Environmental Research Centre (ENALIA, Cyprus) organized a first workshop addressing marine invasive species management in Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). This meeting took place in Cyprus close to the Cape Greco MPA between the 24th and 26th of April 2018.
The invasive pufferfish Lagocephalus sceleratus (Picture: Murat Draman)
The aim of this workshop was to enhance the understanding of the impacts of non-native marine invasive species and build the capacity to elaborate efficient management actions and proper mitigation measures in MPAs. Thirty participants came from 16 countries (Croatia, Albania, Egypt, Israel, Montenegro, Cyprus, Greece, Libya, Italy, Turkey, France, Spain, Tunisia, Lebanon, Iran and the USA). France and ECOMERS laboratory were represented by Virginie Raybaud. She presented an overview of 3 ongoing projects from the lab on this topic:
- PAVIS project led by Sylvaine Giakoumi (http://ecomers.unice.fr/index.php/research/en-cours/87-pavis-assessing-the-relationships-between-marine-protected-areas-and-invasive-species),
- ECOCIMED, a citizen science project led by Patrice Francour (https://www.facebook.com/ecocimed/),
- CLIMAT-BIO project led by Virginie Raybaud (http://ecomers.unice.fr/index.php/research/en-cours/121-climat-bio-climate-change-and-biogeography-of-invasive-species-in-the-mediterranean-sea-a-modelling-approach)