CROTONE – Mayor Vincenzo Voce has signed two memoranda of understanding, respectively with Asd Kroton Apnea Onlus and with Gaia Onlus for the construction of structures with functions anti-trailing And repopulation of fish fauna. The subscription is consequential to the Council resolution proposed by the Environment Councilor Angela Maria De Renzo.
Signing the protocols with the mayor were the president of Gaia Onlus, Pasquale Nicotera, and the president of Asd Kroton Apnea, Pietro Donnici. The two associations carried out the project thanks to a regional tender whose implementation had to clash with the Covid period and, for this reason, was delayed.
In particular, the two structures will affect the sites of community importance “Marine Protected Area on the southern and northern borders” and “Gabella seabed”. These are innovative structures to combat trawling, one of the most destructive and non-selective methods that damage both existing fauna and the seabed. They will be composed of 12-ton reinforced concrete modules which, thanks to their weight, block trawl nets that get caught in them. The company Ruwa srl of Catanzaro will place them in the sea. The project of Kroton Freediving involves the positioning of six structures composed of several modules: three will be positioned in the Irto area and three in the Praialonga area. For the association’s project Gaia a sort of 30 meter sea serpent will be built in Gabella, made up of two anti-trawling structures with multiple modules. The concrete blocks will be placed at a depth of between 10 and 15 meters about a mile away from the coast. The structures will allow the application of conservation measures necessary to maintain the habitats and populations of the species present. The modules, in fact, will be positioned to create dens and will also have cavities in which smaller fish can grow.
These structures, in addition to hindering illegal trawling, will also serve as habitat for repopulation. The positioning of anti-trawling structures, in fact, produces an “indirect” action on the repopulation of the species existing on the seabed concerned. The function of these artificial reefs, therefore, is to contribute to the increase in marine biodiversity by exploiting the phenomenon of thigmotropism, according to which any artefact immersed in the sea quickly becomes covered with sessile organisms where many fish species find safe refuges with a consequent increase in the concentration of larval and juvenile animals present in the water column. The presence of concrete and steel, as well as the variation in the size of the resulting “dens”, on the one hand favor the taking root of pioneer species and on the other offer shelter to fish species of different sizes.
At the same time, these artificial structures also contribute to increasing marine recovery by guaranteeing new refuge areas for many marine species.
“Adherence to the protocols is part of the objectives aimed at protecting nature and ecosystems, with a view to sustainable development” declares councilor De Renzo.
