The Gulf of La Spezia is one of the richest places for marine life in the Mediterranean. It includes protected areas such as the Portovenere and Cinque Terre Marine Protected Areas, the Montemarcello-Magra-Vara Regional Park, and the Pelagos Sanctuary for marine mammals. Its seabed hosts valuable habitats: colonies of the Mediterranean coral Cladocora caespitosa, meadows of Posidonia oceanica and Cymodocea nodosa, and complex “animal forests.” All of this coexists with an increasingly urbanized coastline and intense activities such as tourism, aquaculture, and maritime transport.

A Map of Risks

A team of ENEA researchers (lead by E. Salvatori and A. Sebastiani) has carried out a comprehensive assessment of the risks to marine habitats in the Gulf, identifying the areas where biodiversity is most exposed to the combined effect of human pressures. The study was conducted within the RAISE project (Spoke 4, Project 8), funded by Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). Using a model called InVEST, the researchers combined the most up-to-date data on habitat distribution with data on port infrastructure, maritime traffic, illegal anchoring, wastewater discharges, and other pressures along the coast.

What They Found

• The highest-risk areas are concentrated along the coastline, within 250 metres of the shore, and around Portovenere, Palmaria, Tino, and Tinetto. In these places, ecologically valuable habitats overlap with intense human use.
• More than 200 hectares of marine habitats are at medium risk, and about 6 hectares are at high risk.
• Among the most vulnerable ecosystems are the Posidonia and Cymodocea meadows. These marine plants support biodiversity, improve water quality, store carbon, and protect coasts from erosion. The main threats are illegal anchoring by leisure boats, port infrastructure, coastal development, and wastewater discharges.
• Mussel farming is also under pressure, both from port-related activities and from growing predation by groups of sea bream. For operators in the sector, the economic consequences are already significant.

What Can Be Done

The study also simulated alternative management scenarios. Targeted measures, such as stricter enforcement against illegal anchoring and more sustainable practices in the port and along the coast, could reduce environmental risk by more than 70% for some habitats. The maps produced are a practical tool for public authorities, port managers, and policymakers. They can guide conservation actions, environmental planning, and ecosystem restoration projects. They also provide a solid scientific basis for nature-based solutions, such as restoring native flat oyster reefs, and support the Gulf’s transition toward a more resilient, environmentally responsible future.

A Method That Reaches Beyond the Gulf

The method, which combines risk maps with the simulation of management scenarios, can be applied elsewhere. Many Mediterranean coasts, densely populated and rich in globally significant biodiversity, face similar pressures: maritime transport, urbanization, tourism, and new infrastructure. The approach tested in the Gulf of La Spezia can help build more effective and adaptive management strategies in all these areas.

Figure. Risk maps for marine habitats in the Gulf of La Spezia. A: low risk in shades of blue, medium in light yellow, high in red. B: no risk in blue, low risk in green, medium in yellow, high in red.

Publication: Sebastiani A., Peirano A., Barsanti M., Lombardi C., Appolloni L., Ciuffardi T., Chiavetta C., Salvatori E., “Environmental Risk Assessment as a Tool to Enhance Maritime Spatial Planning in the Mediterranean Sea: The Case Study of the Gulf of La Spezia (North-Western Italy),” Environmental Management 76, 277 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-026-02559-1

Project funded by RAISE Innovation Ecosystem, funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, through the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) under the PNRR (Mission 4, Component 2, Investment 1.5 – Project code: ECS00000035).

Cover image: Animal forests in the Natural Regional Park of Portovenere: Eunicella and Lophogorgia (gorgonians) and Pentapora fascialis (bryozoan). Credits: E. Mancuso and P. Formis

Figure 1. Flat oyster in the filed

Good News, and a Knowledge Gap to Fill

In the Gulf of La Spezia the flat oyster is still present, although it no longer forms true habitats. There are no beds: individuals mostly live on their own, attached to ropes, chains and wrecks a few metres below the surface. We still know very little about this population. How many juveniles settle over the course of the year? How fast do they grow? How many survive? How do they react to conditions in the bay and to the changing seasons? Without these answers, a restoration project starts from assumptions rather than measurements and has no way to evaluate its own results.

The Project

This research and doctoral project (Erica Gabrielli) was created precisely to fill this gap. Funded by Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and developed by ENEA and the University of Milano-Bicocca, the project is part of Smart Bay Santa Teresa cooperation platform. The underlying idea is simple: before intervening on a habitat, we need to understand how the organisms that build it work. The work is organised around four objectives:

1. Understanding the Gulf’s population. We follow the settlement of juveniles, as well as growth, survival and the health of adults.
2. Understanding how oysters react to heat. An experiment under controlled conditions combines physiological measurements with the analysis of genes that switch on or off when adults are exposed to high temperatures using oyster from Sardinia.
3. Studying the shell. We analyse the shell and the organic matrix that guides its construction, an aspect that is still poorly understood in this species and that determines the properties of the material the habitat is made of.
4. Comparing wild and hatchery-raised oysters. At the molecular level, we want to understand whether origin and rearing history leave a mark on the way the animal builds its shell using oysters from the Gulf of La Spezia and from Sardinia

Why It Matters for the Bay

Restoring a habitat like this can follow two paths, and the project considers both. The first is supporting natural recruitment, that is, the ability of the existing population to renew itself. Knowing when and where juveniles settle, how quickly they grow and how many survive makes it possible to understand whether the Gulf’s oysters can regenerate on their own once they find a suitable substrate to settle on. The second is the introduction of hatchery-produced individuals, on which most restocking efforts in the Mediterranean are based, in collaboration with IMC Foundation. Here it is essential to understand whether farmed animals are equivalent to wild ones and whether they build the same shell. The data we collect connect directly with other projects active in the bay. Smart Bay Santa Teresa Underwater Observatory continuously measures the physical and chemical parameters of the same sites where the population is monitored, allowing us to interpret biological responses in light of real environmental conditions. The projects Mussel and Oyster Shell for Regeneration and Rentauring the Bay through Circular and Regenerative Nature-Based Solutions have, in turn, placed structures and reefs built with circular approaches in the sea, with the aim of encouraging the repopulation of native species, including the flat oyster. The measurements of settlement, growth and survival collected on natural structures serve as the benchmark for evaluating how the new structures are colonised.

Figure 2. Oyster net for cultivation adapted for the study on local population of the Gulf of La Spezia

Collaborations

The experimental work takes place at the ENEA Santa Teresa Research Centre and the University of Milano-Bicocca, supported by a network of national and international collaborations:

• the Cooperativa Mitilicoltori Associati della Spezia (mussel farmers’ cooperative) contributed to fieldwork in the shellfish farming area;
• the IMC Foundation of Oristano provided support for the study of the hatchery-raised population;
• the University of St Andrews (United Kingdom) and the Université de Bourgogne Europe (Dijon, France), where the molecular analyses are carried out.

Project developed within Ecosistema dell’Innovazione RAISE, funded by European Union – NextGenerationEU, through Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca (MUR) in the framework of PNRR (Mission 4, Component 2, Investment 1.5 – Project code: ECS00000035) and within National Biodiversity Future Centre (NBFC) funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, through Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca (MUR) in the framework of PNRR (Mission 4, Component 2, Investment 1.4 – Project code: CN00000033) 

Marine ecosystems, the largest on Earth, play a crucial role in regenerative processes. By providing “services to people” (known as Ecosystem Services), including regulating, provisioning, supporting and cultural services, they offer natural solutions to climate change. These natural capacities are key to designing strategies that regenerate heavily impacted environments. Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) are widely recognised tools that support the vitality and health of economic systems by creating and sustaining regenerative pathways. Restoring ecosystems, habitats and species, adopting circular approaches, using ocean resources sustainably and developing green coastal infrastructure all contribute to these pathways. Together, they can ensure the long-term restoration of a biodiverse and resilient natural environment, supporting Europe’s climate change mitigation and adaptation goals and helping to achieve international targets by 2050.

A concrete example: the RAISE project

Within this international context, the RAISE project (Spoke 4, project 8) shows how coordinated, participatory, ecosystem-based actions can bring meaningful change to local territories and contribute to EU objectives. Combining research, technology, innovation and community engagement, and operating within the Smart Bay Santa Teresa cooperation platform, the project helped transform a port bay into a regenerative space for experimentation and citizen participation. The project achieved two main objectives:

1. Protecting Santa Teresa Bay from anchoring, in order to preserve its monitoring technologies and ecosystems;
2. Regenerating the bay through circular approaches that create NBS in the marine environment.

Working together with the community

Thanks to the involvement of local authorities (the Municipality of Lerici and the Coast Guard), as well as stakeholders and citizens, the bay’s transformation began with an ordinance prohibiting anchoring and mooring in the bay (314/2025).This important step brought the whole community into the process, making people active participants in tackling climate change in the Gulf of La Spezia and in protecting local ecosystems (figure 1). This important step brought the whole community into the process, making people active participants in tackling climate change in the Gulf of La Spezia and in protecting local ecosystems (figure 1).

Figure 1. Map of Santa Teresa Bay with the area at sea (blue) where anchoring is prohibited.

Artificial reefs for marine regeneration

The regeneration of the bay was already under way through the Oyster Project. It has now been strengthened by the design and development of 3D-printed artificial reefs made from innovative, circular materials. Created through a PhD project between ENEA and the University of Bologna, and supported by the Smart Bay Santa Teresa Underwater Observatory, which collects physico-chemical data, these structures aim to regenerate marine habitats and repopulate native species such as the European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis), thus supporting the development of effective NBS.

Figure 2. ENEA reefs for habitat regeneration. For further information: Caroscio et al. 2026

Two artificial reefs built to ENEA’s design (figure 2) and printed with marine-compatible cement were deployed at 10 m of depth in site A in August 2025. Three further reefs, also based on ENEA’s design (with a square base) and printed with cement and shells, were deployed at 6 m of depth in site B in March 2026 (figure 3).

Figure 3. Santa Teresa Bay with the regeneration areas hosting reefs (red A and B) and high tech components of underwater observatory (green cylinders).

Monitoring the results

Colonisation studies on the Smart Bay Santa Teresa reefs have only just begun. Preliminary surveys were carried out on the reefs at site A in October and November 2025, and at both sites, A and B, in July and September 2026, when temperature loggers were installed. In the coming months, seasonal surveys will monitor biodiversity on the reefs, ecological succession, and oyster settlement and growth.

Looking ahead

This project is a concrete example of how coordinated, participatory, ecosystem-based actions can transform territories and help achieve Blue Economy objectives. Knowledge of how ecosystems function, of their potential and of the tools they can generate (such as NBS) guided a project that combined research, technology, innovation and social change to turn an overexploited area into a regenerative space for experimentation and citizen participation. RAISE has advanced both technology and research on keystone species of commercial value and regenerative potential. Although the Flat Oyster Restoration Project has only just started, the foundations laid by this work will underpin the future actions of Smart Bay Santa Teresa.

Project funded by RAISE Innovation Ecosystem, funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, through the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) under the PNRR (Mission 4, Component 2, Investment 1.5 – Project code: ECS00000035).

Cover image: P. Formis & E. Mancuso

Figure 1 – The Bay of Santa Teresa and the monitoring context: an environment where nature and port activities coexist.

The Bay of Santa Teresa is a unique environment, suspended between nature and port activities: a setting in which marine ecosystems coexist with human pressures. In this delicate balance, the soundscape is a fundamental key to understanding how these two dimensions interact.

The Project “Listening to the Port”

The project, conceived and developed by the CNR – Institute for Computational Linguistics “Antonio Zampolli” (CNR-ILC), aims transforming the sound into knowledge.Traditionally, noise is measured in decibels, but this information alone is not enough: what really matters is how sound is perceived.

“Listening to the Port” therefore proposes an innovative approach that combines two dimensions:

• physical measurements, collected through acoustic sensors
• human perception, collected through online questionnaires

Integrating these two levels makes it possible to build a more complete and realistic representation of the sound environment. This integrated approach overcomes the limitations of traditional measurements: sound is analysed not only as a physical phenomenon, but as a lived experience, influenced by psychological, social and contextual factors.

Figure 2 – System diagram: integration of acoustic data (sensors), human perception (questionnaires) and semantic maps.

From Data to Meaning

The innovative contribution of CNR-ILC lies in the use of computational linguistics to interpret sound through language. By analyzing large amounts of Italian-language texts, 476 adjectives related to the concepts of “sound” and “noise” were identified. These terms were selected and organized to describe the sound experience in a structured way. In this way, acoustic data become easier to understand and closer to everyday experience, turning into descriptions such as:

calm, chaotic, pleasant, disturbing.

Monitoring in the Bay

In the Smart Bay Santa Teresa, acoustic monitoring is carried out through sensors installed at strategic points in the bay. The devices continuously record:

• noise levels (dBA)
• equivalent sound level (LeqA)
• variations over time at high resolution

The data are transmitted in real time and collected on a centralized platform, enabling constant analysis of the sound environment.

Figure 3 – Acoustic sensor installed in the bay for continuous monitoring of the sound environment.

Maps That Tell the Story of Sound

One of the most innovative elements of the project is the creation of semantic acoustic maps. The territory is divided into areas (hexagonal cells) within which the following are integrated:

• physical noise values
• words and emotions associated by citizens

The result is a map that shows not only how much noise there is, but also how it is experienced.

The maps also make it possible to observe how perception changes over time and space, highlighting patterns linked to human activities and different environmental conditions.

You can explore examples of these maps (created in a port setting) here: https://www.percezione-sonora.it/it/raise

Figure 4 – Example of a semantic acoustic map: each area (hexagonal cell) integrates acoustic data and linguistic descriptions of sound perception.

Citizens’s Role

The project directly involves citizens and port workers through citizen science activities. An online questionnaire, based on the international ISO standard (soundscape), collects:

• descriptions of the sound environment
• qualitative assessments (e.g. pleasant, chaotic, calm)
• reactions to different acoustic stimuli

The questionnaire was administered through the percezione-sonora.it platform and was designed to gather information on two levels: the assessment of the real sound environment at the time and place of the interview, and the assessment of specific audio tracks. This structure therefore makes it possible to compare situated perception with perception mediated by listening to recordings, adding the perceptual dimension to the technical data.

What Sound Teaches Us

The analyses show that noise is not just a matter of intensity. At equal sound levels:

• some environments are more acceptable than others
• context strongly influences perception
• perceived quality is closely tied to the meaning attributed to sounds

The initial analyses also show that environments with similar sound levels can be perceived very differently: this confirms that the quality of the sound environment also depends on people’s context and expectations.

Why It Matters

“Listening to the Port” contributes to the goals of the Smart Bay by providing useful tools to:

• support the decisions of administrations and stakeholders
• improve urban and coastal planning
• develop new scientific knowledge on the relationship between sound and perception

Understanding the soundscape means designing more livable and sustainable environments.

Outlook

The activities in the bay are a first step toward increasingly integrated monitoring. Future developments include:

• integration with other environmental data
• broader citizen participation
• evolution of the maps and analysis tools

The goal is to build an ever more complete picture of the relationship between environment, technology and perception.

How to Contribute

Contributing is easy: just fill in one of the online questionnaires (only one, and only once per person).

• https://www.percezione-sonora.it/surveymanager/40#/
• https://www.percezione-sonora.it/surveymanager/41#/

To explore the results:

• https://www.percezione-sonora.it/it/risultati
• https://www.percezione-sonora.it/it/raise

For more information: Davide Chiarella at the Institute for Computational Linguistics “Antonio Zampolli”, Genoa branch (UoS).

Project funded by RAISE Innovation Ecosystem, funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, through the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) under the PNRR (Mission 4, Component 2, Investment 1.5 – Project code: ECS00000035).

Based on Internet of Underwater Things technology (IoUT) for data transmission, the observatory includes five stations, one in the bay of Santa Teresa (green), two in the shellfish farming area (red) and two in the Regional Natural Park of Porto Venere (blue) (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Stations of the Smart Bay Santa Teresa underwater observatory and their connection with EU infrastructures (eLTER and JERICO).

The observatory is divided into three subsystems to ensure optimal data transmission management: Santa Teresa, Porto Venere and Tinetto. All subsystems are equipped with underwater acoustic modems (nodes) for data transmission, equipped with a temperature sensor and high-precision probes for acquiring physical and chemical parameters:

• N° 2 ProOceanus CO2-Pro CV sensor measuring the partial pressure of CO2 gas dissolved in water using infrared detection; this sensor is ideal for carbon capture storage monitoring and deep ocean CO2 fluxes;
• N° 4 YSI EXO 2 model multiparametric probes providing real-time data on water quality by measuring: temperatures, conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and Chlorophyll;
• N° 5 Z-Pulse Doppler current meters, single-point current sensors, based on the backscatter acoustic Doppler principle, for measuring current speed and direction in the sea;
• N° 1 SeaBird SBE19plus V2 CTD multiparametric probe with oxygen sensors SBE43 and SBE63 and added Optode optical sensor for oxygen measurement, which will provide vertical profiles on the water column with measurements of temperatures, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and Chlorophyll. It is also used to calibrate sensors that remain fixed at sea. Optode is designed to measure absolute oxygen concentration and % saturation and is based on the ability of selected substances to act as dynamic fluorescence quenchers;
• N° 1 Noretk AWAC ADCP, measuring direction and speed current profiles along the water column;
• N° 2 Seabird SeaPhOx, SBE37-SMP- ODO multiparametric probes with SeaFET sensor for pH measurements, which will provide measurements on sea water temperatures, conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and Chlorophyll;
• N° 1 GUARD-ONE, image acquiring autonomous system that will provide underwater images from the shellfish farming.

Santa Teresa system (Figure 2) is located within the Gulf of La Spezia, between 3 and 10 metres of depth. Comprising 10 data transmission nodes, it is the most complex system of the observatory and includes one station inside Santa Teresa Bay and two stations within the shellfish farming, inside the dam. All 10 nodes are equipped with a temperature sensor, six of of them are connected to high-precision probes for the acquisition of parameters such as temperature, salinity, oxygen, chlorophyll, turbidity, pH and current. One node is equipped with a pCO2 sensor. Specifically, the stations S6 and S10, S02 and S09 are located in the shellfish farming area, whereas S05 and S07 are deployed in Santa Teresa Bay. The probes acquire data once per hour and, thanks to the network of nodes, they are acoustically transmitted to the GSM modem (Gateway). The gateway receives the marine data through a hydrophone (S00, Figure 2) and it is kept in the Cooperativa di Mitilicoltori Associati (Mussel Farmers’ Cooperative).

Figure 2. Santa Teresa system: transmission nodes (10), high-precision probes (8) with related acquired parameters, and gateway with hydrophone.

The Porto Venere system (Figure 3), deployed between 2.5 and 7 metres of depth, consists of three data transmission nodes (P01-P03), each one equipped with a temperature sensor. Specifically, two nodes (P01 and P03) are equipped with high precision probes acquiring: temperature, salinity, oxygen, chlorophyll, turbidity and pH. Node P01 is located in the shellfish farming area towards Palmaria Island, whereas node P03, equipped with a current meter acquiring surface current speed and direction, is located at Porto Venere, near the gateway. The probes acquire data once per hour and, thanks to the network of nodes, they are acoustically transmitted to gateway (P00, Figure 3), kept in Porto Venere.

Figure 3. Porto Venere system: transmission nodes (3), high-precision probes (3) with related acquired parameters, and gateway with hydrophone.

The Tinetto system (Figure 4), deployed  between 8 and 22 metres of depth, represents the “blank” of the observatory, as it is located in the Porto Venere Regional Natural Park, outside the Gulf. This subsystem consists of two components: one on land, located on Tino island (fully protected site) and equipped with a gateway and hydrophone (T00), and the other one at sea, positioned on the buoy of the marine protected area (T01). T01 is equipped with high precision probes acquiring: temperature, salinity, oxygen, chlorophyll, turbidity, pH and pCO2. This system is also provided with a profiler (ADCP) measuring the speed and direction of the current through the water column. The probes acquire data once per hour and, thanks to the network of nodes, they are acoustically transmitted to gateway (T00, Figure 4), powered by a solar panel.

Figure 4. Tinetto system: transmission node (1), high-precision probes (3) with related acquired parameters and gateway with hydrophone.

Smart Bay Santa Teresa underwater observatory is part of European research infrastructures and networks. Specifically, all the observatory’s systems are included among the services of the EMBRC (European Marine Biological Resource Centre) infrastructure, which is present in the area with the ENEA Marine Environment Research Centre in Santa Teresa. The Porto Venere and Tinetto systems are part of the Eastern Ligurian Sea site of the eLTER network, and the Tinetto system alone will contribute to the JERICO infrastructure, together with the smart observatory developed by the CNR (SmartOb) as part of the PNRR ITINERIS “Empowering Italy’s Environmental Future” project. All acquired data are available on data centres with CC-BY licence according to EU Policy on Open Data.

The data acquired through Smart Bay Santa Teresa underwater observatory are analytically validated. Seawater samples are collected monthly through campaigns conducted by ENEA and carbonate systems, oxygen, chlorophyll and nutrients are analysed via instrumentation empowered through EMBRC-UP and ITINERIS PNRR programmes.

Smart Bay Santa Teresa underwater observatory represent a centre of excellence for marine environmental monitoring in the Mediterranean. Thanks to its integration into the European research networks EMBRC, eLTER and JERICO, the data collected contributes to our understanding of climate change and the protection of marine biodiversity, providing valuable information for the sustainable management of marine resources.

Observatory’s data in the form of tables and graphs, are available at the following sections:

Tables

Temperature

Chlorophyll

Turbidity

Credits: Smart Bay Underwater Observatory management and drawings: Andrea Bordone (ENEA)

Sailing&Research4Seas is an example of common project linking sport- sailing- with research and technology with the overall aim to implement the acquisition of physics chemical data in the ocean across the world. Based on the collaboration between the sailor Giovanni Soldini and his Orca srl and Smart Bay S. Teresa, the high-tech core of the project is the multi-parametric monitoring system OceanPack – RACE, produced by subCtech. The system is installed on the trimaran Maserati Multi70, lead by Giovanni Soldini, and it acquires physics chemical data such as temperature, salinity, oxygen and pCO₂ (sampling depth: 1 m) along the route. Acquired data are validated and analyzed by Smart Bay Santa Teresa research institutes performing the data quality check by using in situ high resolution instruments and Smart Bay S. Teresa underwater monitoring network and analytic measurements.

S&R4Seas ultimate objectives are data sharing within the scientific community and the dissemination of the status of the occurring ocean change to the general public. Ocean protection starts from its monitoring and only the cooperation among sectors will allow to acquire BIG data and thus identifying sustainable solutions for the ocean and our future.

Figure. Intensity maps of temperature (°C), salinity (PSU) and CO₂ concentration (ppm) acquired along Maserati Multi70 route in June 2022. Sampling depth: 1m, number of measurement stations: 95970; sampling rate in operating conditions: 1 data every 10 s.

The marine science community is engaged in the exploration and monitoring of biodiversity dynamics, with a special interest for understanding the ecosystem functioning and for tracking the growing anthropogenic impacts. The accurate monitoring of marine ecosystems requires the development of innovative and effective technological solutions to allow the remote and continuous collection of data. To achieve this goal, novel technologies for the continuous monitoring of natural ecosystems are urgently needed and video-based observations are increasingly being considered among the most promising tools for a non-invasive environmental monitoring. Within this context, the GUARD1intelligent imaging device (European Patent EP 2863257 B1[1]) has been specifically conceived for long-term deployments as equipment of mobile platforms (e.g. AUV, USV, Argo Float, drifter buoys) as well as stand-alone and wired observatories (e.g. oceanographic moorings, landers, cabled observatories). The system has been developed in cooperation with OnAIR srl software company expert in AI-based solutions and co-owner, together with CNR, of the European Patent EP 2863257 B1 on which the GUARD1 imaging device is based and OEngeenirieng srl, licensed developer of the hardware components of the imaging device GUARD1.