

Laboratoire ECOSEAS (Benoit Derijard, Paolo Guidetti, Jean-Michel Cottalorda, Emna Ben Lamine, Simona Bussotti, Virginie Raybaud, Fabrice Priouzeau, Cécile Sabourault, Natacha Martini)
THALASSA Marine research & Environmental awareness (Alexis Pey, Patricia Ventura)
Association pour la Pêche et les Activités Maritimes - APAM (Claire Lemoine, Christian Decugis, Victor Decugis)
Département des Alpes-Maritimes - CD06 (Christophe Serre, Yann Strebler, Guy Maréchal)
Ville d’Antibes (Didier Laurent)
Comité des Pêches Maritimes et des Élevages Marins des Alpes Maritimes - CDMPEM 06 (Céline Casamata, Denis Genovese)
Fonds Européens pour les Affaires Maritimes et la Pêche (FEAMP)-Region Sud
Overall funding 252 952 euros


From January 2022 to January 2023
It is now well known that Mediterranean ecosystems are facing threats from climate change and human pressure. Implementing protected areas, in which destructive activities are limited or prohibited, is a mean to slow down the loss of biodiversity. Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) are one kind of marine protected areas. These areas are sites designated under the EU Habitats Directive, as part of the Natura 2000 network, aiming to provide conservation measures to species and habitat of importance.
The RECIF project aims to assess the effectiveness of these areas, by realizing a monitoring in 8 SAC located in Alpes-Maritimes (06) and Var (83), France. Evaluation studies of ichthyologic fauna diversity, fish density and biomass distributions, and catches from small scale fisheries will be realized by underwater visual census and experimental fisheries. Observations will be done within each SAC, at its periphery and at a distance from it (control). This will enable us to define, for the most recent areas, a starting point for a historical dataset about the effect of coastal seafloor protection on communities diversity, particularly fish stocks. For areas already established for a long time, a standardized monitoring will be initiated. We will undertake this biodiversity inventory plan for each SAC and during two campaigns, in Spring and Fall.