The beginning of this activity dates back to the year 2002 in the project ?Investigation on the status of the Mediterranean endemic sea grass Poseidonia oceanica in the Albanian coast (ALB/02/02)? . Similar to other projects, SGP wanted to raise the interest of international organizations in the studying of the endemic seagrass Poseidonia oceanica.
The beds of Poseidonia oceanica, an endemic species of the Mediterranean Sea, occur in linear fringes in most of the infralittoral zone, between the surface and 40 m depth. Poseidonia is a priority habitat in the EU Habitats Directive (CODE 11.20 in the Directive Habitat 92/43 EEC). Poseidonia beds are one of the most important ecosystems of the Mediterranean Sea for a number of reasons:
? supports 25% of the region?s flora and fauna and provide essential feeding grounds and/or nurseries for many animals i.e. cephalopods, crustaceans, shellfish and finfish
? great economic importance for fisheries and tourism
? protects against coastal erosion
Poseidonia beds have suffered a progressive and irreversible regression throughout the Mediterranean due to a series of reasons varying from sand extraction, coastal eutrofication, bottom trawling to the more recent invasion of the tropical alga Caulerpa taxifolia and C. racemosa
Following the results of the 2002 project, in the summer of 2003 a more detailed survey was carried out under the joint efforts of RAC/SPA-Tunis and GEF/SGP Albania. This survey confirmed the previous findings and showed in addition that the southern coast of Albanian is incredible rich of Poseidonia meadows and there was an urgent need for a complete mapping of the Poseidonia meadows along Albanian coast (about 400 km).
The environmental benefits of such project would have been multiple:
1. Environmental planning: It will lay a solid ground for designation of marine reserves (Albania has none so far), prevent coastal erosion or intensive urbanisation
2. Fisheries management: It will help in designation and enforcement of fishing areas and exclusion zones
Based on the results of the report the Italian Government pledged 257,125 Euro as part of an in-depth studying and mapping of the Poseidonia habitats along the Albanian coast (see project description attached). The field work of this study was carried out in the summer of 2008.
This project proposal is aims at the divulgation of the results obtained so far. At the center of the deliverable of the project is the preparation of a GIS based multimedia CD/DVD that incorporates and integrates all the information collected so far. The CD will be in the format ArcGis- Arcreader 9.1.