Agnesi, S., Annunziatellis, A., Tunesi L., Di Nora, T. (2007) Preliminary evaluation of maritime traffic in the Pelagos Sanctuary. Proceeding of the 8th Conference on the Mediterranean Coastal Environment, MEDCOAST 07, (ed Ozhan), pp 1419-1426

In 2006, ICRAM finalized the preliminary synthesis of the available data on the main human activities carried out in the area of the International Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine Mammals “Pelagos”, analyzing its typology and its spatial distribution. The data were collected within the framework of a project, funded by the Italian Ministry of Environment, focusing on a multidisciplinary analysis regarding cetaceans and different typologies of human activities carried out in Italian waters of the Sanctuary. This contribution focuses on cargo and ferry traffic analyzed and elaborated through a Geographic Information System (GIS). Information on the ports of departure and arrival as well as the monthly frequency for ferry and cargo ships was collected through main company web sites operating out of Italian ports. The data was elaborated in order to identify possible shipping routes. A specific procedure was developed in order to identify different areas involved by maritime traffic and to estimate their relative intensity of use. The applied approach, starting from open source data, allowed to obtain a preliminary map of the maritime traffic and highlights areas where intensity of use reaches high values thereby indicating the need of more detailed studies.

Per informazioni/approfondimenti: Leonardo Tunesi