How to convert the oldest Fish Market of the Adriatic Sea into a Marine Rescue Center
A group of young environmental researchers is taking over from fishermen the old fish market in Marina di Ravenna closed since the 1990s. They clear it of all nets and fill it with tanks to rescue endangered canonical marine species by-catched from artisanal fisheries. From this project was born an NGO named CESTHA, Experimental Center for Habitat Conservation, to date unique in Italy as a rescue center for all fish fauna and one of the largest sea turtle rescue centers.
Local
Italy
Marina di Ravenna, Ravenna
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Yes
EMFF : European Maritime and Fisheries Fund
FEAMP - 2014-2020
Measure 1.40 Protection and restoration of marine biodiversity and ecosystems and compensation schemes under sustainable fishing
Project Name: S.E.P.P.I.A Salvaguardia e Protezione dei Popolamenti Ittici Adriatici - Safeguarding and Protection of Adriatic Fish Populations
No
Yes
2021-12-31
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): CESTHA Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Sara Last name of representative: Segati Gender: Female Nationality: Italy Function: Legal representative and scientific responsable Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Via Molo Dalmazia 49 Town: Marina di Ravenna Postal code: 48123 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 351 854 4072 E-mail:direzione.cestha@gmail.com Website:https://www.cestha.it/
In Marina di Ravenna (Italy) before 1938, the fish exchange took place at the port with public disturbances, thus lacking public evidence of buying and selling, so opened the fish market, which immediately became the main one in the North Adriatic. In the 1970s, off the coast of Ravenna in the North Adriatic Sea, a large portion of the sea was closed to fishing due to the construction of several offshore platforms for gas extraction. In those years, the supply of fish to Marina di Ravenna declined in favor of other locations, which led to the final closure of the public auction in the 1990s. Fishermen learned to take advantage of the new marine habitat by manually harvesting mussels and cleaning the submerged parts of the platforms; this is still a unique job in Europe. In 2016, the team of researchers began the incredible project of reopening the facility where previously animals entered to live dead and now instead enter to return to the sea saved and restored. The ambition of marine biologists, combined with the cooperation of fishermen who want to regain a role in sea conservation, has made it possible to carry out several environmental projects. Through these projects, CESTHA is the only rescue center for all fish fauna in Italy and one of the largest sea turtle rescue centers.
Old Fish Market
Research Center
Conservation
Blue growth
Collaboration
The project's main goal was to create a physical entity that would act as a link between the protection of the sea and the productive activities that fruit the sea, finding the right balance between the two. This was made possible by identifying issues in the sector. First, trawl fishing impacts sea turtles, so CESTHA has equipped itself with tanks and trained staff to save them. In contrast, artisanal fishing impacts seahorses and cuttlefish eggs, so CESTHA has developed several research projects in collaboration with fishermen to develop new, less impactful fishing gear and hatch the eggs in tanks. Finally, the aim is to promote products derived from minority techniques that are highly sustainable but unknown to the consumer through the development of quality labels and dissemination initiatives. Being based in the harbor, inside the old fish market, whose doors communicate with a fish shop on one side and with the offices of fishing cooperatives on the other, makes it possible for fishermen and researchers to talk to each other every day.
The CESTHA research center opens its doors for dedicated initiatives on a monthly or weekly basis, depending on the season. The grandstand that once hosted buyers to purchase fish is the same grandstand that now hosts schoolchildren, visitors, families, and children for guided tours of the recovery marine fauna center. Instead of the conveyor belt where sellers sold fish, there are now tanks where marine biologists save endangered species. The fishermen proudly bring their families to the center, showing them the rescued animals when they are not taking them to the fish market to see their caught fish. The consumer who visits the center and whose role is so important in the impact on the sea sees the shark in the tank instead of in slices on the fish counter. This meeting generates a positive emotion that stimulates them in conscious buying by avoiding endangered species, such as most sharks and rays species of the Adriatic Sea.
Both university research and fishing are masculine worlds. Women were historically forbidden from sailing on the fishing boat because captains believed their presence would anger the sea gods, who would cause rough waves and violent weather. In contrast a woman founded the CESTHA research center, and the female component is the main one. The center's policy is also to hire young researchers to give them opportunities to work immediately after university. Volunteers are not accepted, but CESTHA still allows retired people to provide their knowledge for the day-to-day management and small projects of the center. In fact, following Goal 10 of Agenda 2030, CESTHA promotes social inclusion by developing a project that welcomes retirees into targeted activities within the research center.
On days when marine biologists organize guided tours at CESTHA research center or sea turtle releases events at sea, the neighborhood benefits as an attraction and creation of a large flow of people. In fact, Marina di Ravenna city identifies itself with this unique attraction's peculiarity. A concrete example of these actions is that in 2022 the Emilia-Romagna region made five promotional spots video to attract tourists to the resorts, and one of the stories is precisely about the research center (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq6plVKHbB8). The story talks about Kronk, a male sea turtle of the threatened species Caretta caretta, that, after months of cure at the sea turtle rescue center, has been released in the sea out of the cost of Marina di Ravenna. Through this type of publicity and word of mouth of people who visit the place, the CESTHA research center has become a fulcrum place in Marina di Ravenna.
The main stakeholders are the fishermen, both at the local and regional levels. Since CESTHA has its headquarters in front of the fishing port, the collaboration between the fishermen and the researchers is facilitated. However, this collaboration has also expanded to the regional level, in marinas throughout the Italian region Emilia-Romagna and some in Veneto. Over the years, many projects have been completed through extensive networks. Among the main ones is an Interreg Italy-Croatia named PRIZEFISH. The PRIZEFISH project idea builds territorial and socio-economic developmental change in the cooperative renewable exploitation of Adriatic fishery resources and consequently in the long-term benefits of Adriatic marine ecosystems. In this project, CESTHA, collaborating with the Ravenna Marine Department, developed sustainability programs about fishing technics, resource awareness, and product valorization. Other examples are several conservation projects, such as Tarta-Life and E-life, respectively, preservation actions for sea turtles and sharks. In addition, several activities of the research center have been recognized by international charities such as the Mohamed Amin Foundation and Shift tung Beneficientia. Furthermore, CESTHA is part of the nationwide 30x30 initiative that contributes to an international effort to protect by establishing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) of at least 30 percent of the ocean by 2030. The campaign aims to apply this target in Italian waters, a goal as great as it is necessary to ensure the functionality and productivity of the Mediterranean Sea.
CESTHA brings together various professional skills, including biologists, veterinarians, naturalists, and underwater guides, with multiple experiences in projects related to the environment, from land protection to research on sustainable fishing. For years, it has been implementing study projects, support for stocks and innovation in the fish industry, and acting on the conservation of endangered species. Respectively in 2019 and 2020, the Ministry of the Environment and the Protection of the Territory and the Sea issued to CESTHA and its operators, the authorization notwithstanding the DPR 357/97 for the creation of a Recovery, therapy, and rehabilitation center for sea turtles at the headquarters of Marina di Ravenna. The projects include monitoring the impact of professional fishing on by-catches and mitigating its impact on endangered species the developing protocols for the Recovery, Rehabilitation, and Release in Nature of the specimens. Fishing's main types are deep water trawling, middle water trawling, and gill nets. The main classes of marine fauna saved are elasmobranchs, marine chelones, protected or rarefied ichthyofauna (Hippocampus spp, Gobies, etc.), and sea turtles. Another project strand involves monitoring the movements of sea turtles in the North Adriatic Sea and understanding their routes and which areas they frequent to protect them better. This project used GPS installed on the carapace of two adult female sea turtles. Finally, an area of the research center was dedicated to a specific tank to house one of our most critical sea turtle patients, who suffered a severe propeller injury and to whom an additional carapace printed with the 3D printer was applied.
To best understand the value of the Old Fish Market redevelopment project in Marina di Ravenna and its conversion into a marine research center, we analyze what differences there would be if it had not been created. Tourism in the neighborhood and the entire city of Ravenna has greatly benefited from establishing the CESTHA research center. A significant impact was and still is made by rescuing specimens of endangered species often subject to by-catch. In addition, several scientific discoveries have been produced both on the most suitable methods of caring for canonical species such as sea turtles and on their general conservation. The University of Bologna has different natural sciences, marine biology, and aquaculture courses, and the CESTHA center created work on the ground for numerous students. Furthermore, the fishermen know they have qualified staff to support them in writing projects that will enable them to obtain funding for replacing boat engines or buying vans, etc. Even a giant such as ENI S.p.A. looks with interest at the possibility of making the area of the platforms a marine protected area in collaboration with the research center. Finally, the dialogue between researchers and fishermen and the conversion of the old fish market has made the fishermen themselves gain a role in protecting the sea through conscious and sustainable exploitation.
The innovative character is that the CESTHA center is self-sustaining; the funds come from different but parallel activities. Among these activities, the strategy is to find dissemination events with citizens and schools who are taken on guided tours by the center's marine biologists. Second, the policy is to find research activities applied to fisheries either directly entrusted to the center or as a sub-contract of other agencies. The close relationship between CESTHA researchers and fishermen means that national and international public research organizations need CESTHA to conduct fieldwork. Environmental research projects untethered from fisheries are also carried out either directly entrusted to the center or on behalf of other public entities such as universities or private partners. The innovation is also to expand the range of activity, passing thought the flora and fauna conservation of the wetlands and coastal areas.
Humility was the approach to the whole project, the humility of the researchers to put themselves on an equal footing with the fishermen and work with them and for them. Being on good terms resulted in dialogues on how to intervene and how a recovery center with tanks could be helpful in the fishery. The idea came from the recklessness of a couple of young researchers who decided to open a research center in the place of an old fish market. So the vision and determination of the founders of the CESTHA center were the keys to the whole project's success. The president of the center herself was the one who cleared the old market of disused and abandoned nets. The first animals rescued came from only two boats from the Marina di Ravenna navy. To date, however, animals are rescued from all over the region. Finally, the methodology by which the center is self-supporting is perseverance in dialogue with fishermen, research, and sea conservation.
In Italy, the dialogue between businesses and universities is complex because getting results is very slow. The strength is that CESTHA, in real-time, dialogues with fishermen who are the ones who see the change every day. Hence the results are tangible and valuable quickly. Obviously, certain conditions are not replicable in toto. So the opportunity to have a fish market in front of a fishing port to be transformed is not a given. However, the whole project can serve as an example of how research can roll up its sleeves and catch up with those who live with the problem daily. It teaches that dialogue is beneficial, can serve as an example, and be replicable everywhere, in all sectors, from fisheries to agriculture. Moreover, the structure is self-sustaining with very diverse strands of research, which is also its winning point to be replicated.
The spirit that CESTHA identifies with is explained very well by the slogan "Think globally, act locally," introduced in 1915 by the Scottish planner and conservationist Patrick Geddes. Acting locally on biodiversity loss, fisheries, and wetlands has global effects on nature conservation. By promoting good fishing practices, and scientific breakthroughs obtained, we think about the global preservation of the environment, thus our home.
