A press conference was held yesterday in the headquarters of Workness in Milan to present the fourth edition of project M.A.R.E.
The fourth edition will depart May 17 from Taranto's Aragonese Castle: the crew of the catamaran One will travel 1,800 miles along the coasts of Sicily, Greece and Turkey to complete a four-year research cycle that
covered the entire Mediterranean basin.
Created at the initiative of the Centro Velico Caprera Foundation with the scientific collaborationof One Ocean Foundation, the M.A.R.E. Project aims to return a picture of the health of the Mediterranean through a series of key indicators, such as the presence of
persistent pollutants and trace metals within zooplankton (and thus the food chain) and the mapping of biodiversity by means of environmental DNA analysis. A scientific protocol that has been joined over the years by numerous other research projects carried out by various agencies and universities.
"The catamaran One," comments Stefano Crosta, President of the Centro Velico Caprera ETS Centro Velico Caprera Foundation, "is now the epicenter of an international research network and in recent years has seen hundreds of guests on board, all involved in collection and
sampling, and dozens of researchers from Italian and foreign institutions. Such articulated work on the Mediterranean has not been carried out for decades, and it is a source of great satisfaction for us to be the promoters of this initiative."
The same sentiment echoes in the words of Riccardo Bonadeo President of One Ocean Foundation.
"We are proud to renew for the fourth year our partnership with the Centro Velico Caprera ETS Centro Velico Caprera Foundation in the M.A.R.E. project as scientific partners, with the goal of studying the health of the Mediterranean. This year we will complete the mapping of the entire basin,
including Greece and Turkey, an achievement that confirms the value of the synergy between research and practical action for sea protection."
In recent years, the project has totaled 199 sailing days for 4,795 miles traveled, resulting in the publication of 7 peer reviewed articles and 16 research projects. During the same period, 396 researchers and ambassadors came on board and 31 outreach events were held along the routes traveled.
An achievement that would not have been possible without the support of brand partners committed to sustainability such as Shiseido, Yamamay, Deutsche Bank Italia Foundation, Toio and Workness Club and important institutional sponsors such as the Italian Navy.
Emphasizing instead on the dissemination values of M.A.R.E. is Ginevra Boldrocchi, Chief Scientific Officer of One Ocean Foundation.
"We conclude the first cycle of an ambitious project dedicated to the Mediterranean, a hotspot of marine biodiversity. We have chosen a rigorous, science-based approach, because only with a solid foundation can we address environmental challenges. At the same time, research must dialogue with people: through citizen science, science becomes accessible, breaking down barriers and turning into an engine of growth and sustainable change."
Looking at the journey so far, Stefano Crosta, President of the Centro Velico Caprera Foundation, also charts a possible course for the future: "Next year we will start again from the Tyrrhenian Sea, to check what is the trend of the indicators we monitor. And since M.A.R.E. is not an abstract concept but a crew working together, we would like each four-year cycle to be able to rely on a stable team, both in terms of partners and research institutions involved. In addition, consistent with our DNA as a school, we will work to provide year-round continuity for the project through educational initiatives that involve the widest possible audience."