“Fishermen, scientists and less bureaucracy to make our protected sea grow”

Collaboration between different bodies and institutions, technology, more surveillance and widespread information to make people understand the importance and challenges of effective management of marine protected areas. The main points of his program Julia Viscounti, new director of the Marine Protected Area “Capo Milazzo”, in the province of Messina, had exhibited them at the conference on protected areas organized by Marevivo and Wwf “Valore Natura” in Rome last month. In front of the Minister of the Environment Gilberto Pichetto Fratin and the Minister of the Sea Nello Musumecithe expert for marine protected areas of Marevivo, together with Julia Prato sea ​​manager of the WWF, had underlined the scarce financial resources, personnel, and bureaucratic obstacles that hinder the effective management of marine protected areas.

Now Visconti is officially in office as director of the AMP Capo Milazzo, but more than a new job, what awaits him is the natural continuation of a journey that began some time ago. At the age of 41, Visconti has gained enviable experience in terms of knowledge of the Mediterranean marine environment and conservation policies for natural areas. “Studying the sea, protecting the marine ecosystem has always been my main interest – she says – I graduated in natural sciences and then completed a doctorate in animal biology with a specialization in marine ecology in Palermo. I studied sea urchins, always in reference to the proper management of marine protected areas and its resources”.

Has being Sicilian influenced your choice of studies?
“My family and the land I know best have had an equal influence. We have always lived between the countryside and the sea, I devoured my first books on natural sciences when I was nine, my grandmother, a graduate in chemistry and physics, then a teacher of mathematics and sciences, he taught me to observe the environment. My mother as a regional employee was involved in the development of the territory and took me with her on missions. My father, among many jobs, was also a professional fisherman, in unsuspecting times already attentive to the principles of sustainable fishing. My brother is a researcher in marine biology in England and my sister, who works in the cinema, also maintains a very strong bond with nature. And I have never left Sicily except for short periods, I consider it a magnificent land but abused and therefore to be taken care of”.

Her apprenticeship as a researcher in marine protected areas has always focused on collaboration between different bodies. What experiences have you had in this field?
“Apart from my membership in Marevivo, I have worked with local associations, with ISPRA, CoNISMA, with various national and foreign universities, with the Zoological Station of Naples. In all these experiences I have focused on field work and dissemination. Today I note with satisfaction that the people with whom I have collaborated in the past and still collaborate consider me a point of reference in the management and design activities for the AMPs. This bond is essential for carrying out not only research, but above all for sharing the data collected and the experiences faced, an aspect on which I have always worked: it makes no sense to keep the results to yourself, the glass bell effect does not lead to anything good, it does not help to improve”.

In this regard, in his report to the conference he repeatedly referred to the need to accurately map the marine areas to be protected. As?
“We are making progress, even if it is still very difficult to have a systemic vision of the strategies to be implemented. Thanks to the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and with the funds of the PNRR, 30 years after the framework law on natural parks, an attempt is being made to consolidate the protection of the marine environment, with the coordination of ISPRA, CNR and the ministry. The greatest difficulty derives from the fact that if we are talking about the sea, eight ministries are involved: it is necessary to set up a national coordination system. As already mentioned, we have a lot of data, but they are scattered and unorganized, so the effort to be made is to get out of the backyards of each MPA and aim for a systemic vision”.

Is this the main goal of your direction?
“It is among the main ones. I will start from the regional system tested in Sicily, to which 7 MPAs belong, to which Capo Milazzo has just joined. We are already trying to obtain single guidelines, for example for communicating what we do, so that the exchange system between the various management bodies of the MPAs (consortia and municipalities) is evident The Sicilian model is starting to bear fruit, last year all the Sicilian MPAs thanks to RAMPS, the “Sicilian Marine Protected Areas Network” , contributed to the preparation of the PAF (Priority Action Framework) for the Natura 2000 network, completing the measures and active interventions for the marine environment missing up to 2020. Sicily is the first region that has satisfied the implementing measures with this type of contribution and it is not a small result, because it will allow us to take advantage of European funds for the active protection measures in the marine environment envisaged with the 2021-27 programming”.

The lack of financial resources was a crucial point in his relationship for Marevivo and the WWF. Are European funds enough?
“Compared to national parks, MPAs are subject to a law, 394/91, which needs an urgent update, for example, in the possibility of hiring specialized personnel. We are unable to guarantee a team for protection and management if only staff guaranteed by ministerial funds is the figure of the director.And as if that weren’t enough, the resources transferred per year to the 29 MPAs and the 2 submerged parks amount to just over 7 million compared to the approximately 70 million transferred to the 24 National Parks. In fact, each MPA recovers most of the resources through planning on European, national and regional tenders in partnership with other subjects.But we do not want to argue about what is missing, instead we need to find useful and quick solutions.For example, it is essential surveillance, but it is necessary to have and train the employees, with continuous and more efficient interlocution through more structured co-management tables. system and we cannot stay behind: Italy as regards legislation is far ahead of other Mediterranean states, which for example do not contemplate total protection zones, we just have to carry on what we have”.

You mentioned surveillance. One of the crucial issues is the coexistence of activities such as fishing with the need for protection. And it is not enough to ban and repress.
“Surveillance is extremely difficult because there are no barriers at sea and infinity develops in three dimensions, as in the park, we do not have well-defined roads or paths, which give you an idea of ​​the space, in a marine area it is very difficult to make people understand that the whole environment is protected.Those who are on the boat often don’t know what’s underneath, because the anchor shouldn’t be dropped in a certain place, or because the engines have to go at reduced speed, and this unfortunately it is difficult to make the mayors of the coastal municipalities understand. The MPAs and the coast guard often with the resources they have fail to adequately prevent or intervene promptly to stop the violations. As for the fishermen, it is a very complex issue also because as departments we depend on two ministries that often do not talk to each other, but often the fishermen are ahead of us even just for field experiences, it is essential to involve them in protection activities and the MPA does it for example this year through the EMFF funds”.

And this is where disclosure comes into play, on which you focus a lot.
“Mine is a figure of balance, on the one hand I have to manage a territory in terms of protection, on the other I have to try to enhance its resources and increase its potential. For this reason it is essential to raise awareness of the many actions to be undertaken and transfer this knowledge in the most capillary way possible When I do seminars at the university or during meetings with all those involved in MPAs, I am always surprised by the many questions I am asked about what can be done in a marine protected area , because they always think it is a closed area, instead the term ‘management’ contains many possibilities for comparison and development”.

Is there a term that defines your mandate as director and your vision of the world?
“Yes, and it’s ‘synergy’. Collaboration is one of the most important things I’ve learned in this long journey, despite being young. And I can’t stress enough the value of humility. I always need experts who know more than me : I can have expertise in the field of Posidonia, turtles or cetaceans, but if I need to learn more, I call the experts to discuss and find the most appropriate solutions. It was my trump card, my policy, not in the strict sense, in the sense of social policy of inclusion. The greatest satisfactions come when, for example, the fishermen of Lampedusa call me, with whom I have done wonderful jobs, or diving, or other colleagues, to get advice or support in their activities, to collaborate. limits in seeking collaborations, if not those of synergies that are in everyone’s interest”.

Is there anything you wish doesn’t happen with your new assignment?
“Yes, I was talking about it with my mother and with Carmen Di Penta, director of Marevivo. I really hope that not only being the first woman to hold this role is emphasized, but how much it is necessary to enhance the skills we have to improve quality of our sea”.