Italy starts entire coastal mapping project

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Italy is mapping its entire coastline to investigate coastal habitats and monitor wave motions and sea currents along with weather parameters.

The PNRR MER Project (Marine Ecosystem Restoration) project entails the use of a plethora of equipment including airborne and satellite sensors on a 10,200km² area.

MER Project

Multi-beam technology will be used on a 4,000km² area and an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) will cover 4,000km of Italy’s 7,600km coastline.

Thirteen coastal HF radar antennae will be installed and along with a further seven existing ones being maintained will cover almost 9,800 square kilometres.

A national network of offshore buoys will monitor wave motion, sea currents and weather parameters, and six monitoring stations at depths of up to 1,000 metres and a further four up to 3,000 metres deep will be installed.

The aim of the MER is to restore and protect the seabed and marine habitats in Italian waters by gathering oceanographic data and deploying high-resolution acoustic instruments.

It is the largest project under the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which will make used of subsea technology firm Fugro’s AUV.

“About 90 seamounts will be mapped for deep habitats, located in the Ligurian Sea, the Upper and Lower Tyrrhenian Sea, the Sardinian Sea, the Ionian Sea and the Southern Adriatic Sera for an estimated surface area of about 14,000km2,” says the Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), which is running the project.

“ISPRA data show that 86.5% of waste at sea is linked to fishing activities and 94% of these are abandoned nets. The MER project involves the identification and restoration of at least 15 areas where there are abandoned fishing and/or aquaculture gear, preserving the local fauna and flora.”