In the Mar Piccolo of Taranto, approximately 160 juvenile specimens (6/7 months of age) of seahorse of the Hippocampus guttulatus species were released yesterday, born and raised at the Genoa Aquarium, as part of the conservation project which involves the same Aquarium, the Municipality of Taranto, the University of Bari and Cnr-Ias of Palermo.
The release operations, which started from the Ex Idroscalo Bologna Pier managed by the Aeronautica Militare Volunteer School, took place in one of the three new micro-reserves recently created within the Mar Piccolo Regional Park (LR n.30/2020) precisely for the protection of sea horses. Within the three reserves, appropriately delimited and monitored, artificial structures (seahorse hotels) have been installed to provide footholds and shelter for the seahorses and to encourage their predation activities.
The Mar Piccolo of Taranto, which until recently hosted one of the largest populations of Hippocampus guttulatus (long-snouted seahorse) in the Mediterranean Sea, has witnessed a very strong decline in the population of this species since 2016 with a decrease in the overall density around 90%. In addition to uncontrollable natural phenomena, such as global warming and heat waves, the collapse of seahorse populations may have been caused by bycatch from artisanal fisheries, habitat fragmentation and illegal trade in Mediterranean marine organisms – seahorses , sea cucumbers – for use in traditional Chinese medicine.
The combination of these factors represents a fearful threat to the conservation of Mediterranean seahorse populations and, without appropriate interventions and initiatives, could potentially bring populations to the brink of extinction.
Therefore, in response to this threat, initiatives have been put in place specifically aimed at the protection and conservation of seahorses.
