STARE-CAPMED

STATION OF REFERENCE AND RESEARCH ON CHANGE OF LOCAL AND GLOBAL ANTHROPOGENIC PRESSURES ON MEDITERRANEAN ECOSYSTEMS DRIFTS

The STARECAPMED project (STAtion of Reference and rEsearch on Change of local and global Anthropogenic Pressures on Mediterranean Ecosystems Drifts) has the main objective of making the Bay of Calvi a reference workshop site in the Mediterranean.  This project studies the links between the state of marine ecosystems and the human pressures that potentially threaten them (state-pressure link). Calvi Bay is also a privileged site to study the effects of climate change on the state and functioning of marine ecosystems. Thus, this workshop site studies both local pressures (pollution, fishing, aquaculture, anchoring …) and their potential impact on the marine environment as well as oceanographic processes on a larger scale that affect the Mediterranean. STARECAPMED also aims to test new approaches and develop new tools to support local policies and the protection of the marine environment, especially to guide more effectively the policies of adaptation to climate change.

The 10 actions of the program are the following :

• Hydrographic and physico-chemical framework
• Monitoring and quantification of pressures
• Benthos of soft substrates
• Marine phanerogams
• Moorings and alteration processes of Posidonia meadows
• Hard substrate benthos and vagile fauna
• Planktonic ecosystem
• Ecotoxicology, emerging pollutants
• Protected areas, new species, recruitment
• CO2 balance of the ecosystems

There are five sites of important anthropic impact (hotspots) in Calvi Bay :

• Plage de l’Alga (large number of pleasure boats)
• Pointe Saint-François  (urban area, port of Calvi, sewage discharge)
• Aquaculture cages
• Fiume Seccu estuary (pollution of the watershed)
• Punta Revellata (diving, artisanal and recreational fishing)

The physico-chemical and biological parameters of the water column are monitored at nine stations located in the Bay of Calvi. There are four reference stations : Tête de Canyon, Point 60m, Site DCE 40m and Port de STARESO and five stations subject to anthropic pressures (hotspots) : the mouth of the Fiume Seccu, the outfall of the Calvi wastewater treatment plant, the aquaculture cages, the organized anchorage area of Calvi and the Baie de l’Alga (high number of pleasure boats). As a non-exhaustive example of data acquisition, for the “Tête de Canyon” station, temperature curves are available from 2012 to 2021 as well as nutrient curves (nitrogenous elements, phosphates, silicates) from 2012 and 2020, chlorophyll a and oxygen saturation. Each year, a census of red spiny lobster (Palinurus elephas) recruitment is conducted at three stations : Punta Revellata, St. François and the fishing station of Calvi (Reserve). Because of their characteristics (boulders, algae, coralligenous populations…) and their landscape complexity, these 3 sites have been identified as suitable for the installation of juvenile red lobsters. The abundance of lobsters and several morphological data are studied.

Finally, through the STARECAPMED workshop site, STARESO has developed a series of indices and indicators of the quality of water masses and marine ecosystems that are measured at high frequency in the Bay of Calvi : AMBI, CARLIT, FAST, LIMA, ICAr, PREI

The user can view the data concerning the recruitment of red lobsters, Palinurus elephas (2012 to 2020), the physico-chemical and biological parameters of the water column and the various ecological qualification indices measured (AMBI, CARLIT, FAST, LIMA, ICAr, PREI), directly on the platform by clicking on the button “Access to maps“, just below.

A cartography of Posidonia meadows (2002, 2012 and 2018) and of marine biocenoses (2018) is accessible at the level of the Bay of Calvi, as well as the delimitation of protected areas (ZPS, Revelatta fishing block).

The work of the workshop site is financed by the Rhone Mediterranean and Corsica Water Agency, the Territorial Collectivity of Corsica and the Stareso. The project is carried out in scientific collaboration with the University of Liege.

Contact : Michel Marengo (michel.marengo@stareso.com)

Project Leader : STARESO   –   http://www.stareso.com/

Update frequency : Annual

Partners : Stareso, University of Liege, Territorial Collectivity of Corsica, Rhone Mediterranean and Corsica Water Agency