Italy Steps Up Its Fight to Tackle Its Blue Crab Problem
Italy on Tuesday appointed a special commissioner to tackle the spread of the blue crab, an aggressive species that is preying on local clams and threatening a lucrative part of national food production.Originally from the western Atlantic, blue crabs have proliferated in several locations around the Italian coast, particularly in the Po river delta in the north, where attempts to curb numbers with large fishing campaigns have had little success.Experts say the blue crabs probably arrived in Italy via shipping bilge water, but it is unclear why they are multiplying so fast or whether there could be a link
Fugro On Call for Italy’s Ecosystem Restoration Project
Fugro has been selected to map the coastal habitats of the entire Italian coast as part of the Italian government’s Marine Ecosystem Restoration (MER) Project, a groundbreaking initiative under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.The Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) has selected Fugro, in partnership with Compagnia Generale Ripreseaeree (CGR), to leverage their technology and experience in coastal resilience solutions to deliver the crucial mapping component of the MER Project.The MER Project aims to restore the marine habitats, fortify the national
Unlocking Seabed Secrets with Underwater Robots
;14) along the Ligurian coast to demonstrate the advantages of mapping the seabed using autonomous vehicles. Throughout the experiment, multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) equipped with modern sensors relevant to NATO minehunting missions are being employed in the Ligurian Sea along the Italian coast between Framura and Bonassola to collect data that will allow NATO researchers to advance the area of seabed mapping using autonomous vehicles, mainly for mine countermeasures applications. Improved capabilities in seabed mapping can also lead to positive advancements in other fields such as
February 2025
