Marevivo organises wide public debates on their ships’ decks. The ultimate aim is to prevent a further decline in environmental conditions and hinder the impact these activities have.

Present at the meeting were Flavio Bugossi, Captain of the Palinuro, Lucia Pattarino, representative of the Italian Embassy, Rosalba Giugni, president of Marevivo, Giampaolo Bensaia of the Harbour Office Corps, Charles Schembri, executive director, Ports directorate, Clelia Ciciriello, Professor of International Law at Naples University, Roberto Patruno, director of REMPEC-IMO, and Censu Galea, Minister for Competitiveness and Communications.

The Marevivo quest has been increasingly focused on the protection of the Mediterranean, particularly around those territories where activities negatively affect the health of the sea – mainly fishing, transportation and pollution.

During the meeting the impact of the sea highways project on Mediterranean traffic was discussed.

One of the main sources of pollution is caused by transportation, mainly “tyre” vehicles. Apart from the immediate repercussions on the terrestrial environment, there are serious consequences on marine environments and coastal ecosystems.

The geographical shift in economic activities caused by the urbanisation process along many coasts has created much degradation in vital ecosystems.

It is clear that the hydraulics relief systems present inland which are directly transported and released on the coast, add to the increased pollution caused by more “tyre” vehicles present on the coast. This is building up serious pressure on environments, which are already under great stress, and it is affecting their equilibrium and supportive resources.

The project of sea highways is expected to reduce one of the greatest environmental problems: emission of CO2 in the atmosphere caused by vehicle traffic. It will also help to clear the highways and road networks which are highly congested.

On the other hand, it is important to take precautions to reduce the already frequent violations of illicit discharges and the importation of allochthonous and toxic organisms with the ballast waters.

The Mediterranean Sea is already exposed to a great deal of stress. The main cause is the great concentration of both tourist and commercial traffic in its waters.

The sea makes up 0.7 per cent of global waters and 30 per cent of worldwide marine traffic passes through it today. This marine traffic moves 25 per cent of the globe’s hydrocarbons. These figures show how the Mediterranean is subjected to the harsh impacts of pollution and contamination.

The protection of the Mediterranean is not the responsibility of a single country, it includes all the countries that border it. One of Marevivo’s proposals was to establish a “control room” to promote strategies, plan and integrate management and introduce homogeneous laws and common rules in the Mediterranean countries.

The areas which have the greatest impact on the environment are:

The modernisation of sea ports, which are already facing great operational difficulties

The risks posed by an eventual increase in marine traffic and its interaction with other forms of transport

The frequent and harmful violations of the law committed by transiting boats

The increase in waste released in the water and the illicit dumping of toxic material

The introduction of organisms external to the local ecosystem, which affect its balance and may increase toxicity.

Marevivo is a non-profit, non-partisan environmental organisation, which operates in its national territory and the Mediterranean basin.

The association’s activities are numerous and include environmental education, scientific research, promotion of protected marine areas and to protect the sea’s eco system.