LIFE A-MAR NATURA2000’s sailing campaign, during its fifth week of sailing, arrives with “Teta” in Sardinia, making its penultimate leg. The boat sailed along the northwestern coast of the island, between two protected areas, two marine oases with seabeds rich in plant and animal species of great interest: the La Maddalena Archipelago National Park and the Asinara National Park.
Crystal-clear waters and immense Posidonia prairies, which descend to depths of 30 meters, provide the natural habitat for a wealth of mollusks and fish, some of them rare, such as the Patella ferruginea, a species that is highly threatened by human activity. What’s more, populations of brown grouper and croakers, giltheads, scorpionfish, colorful wrasses, red and black damselfish, moray eels and even lobsters: these are the inhabitants of the seas in this stretch of Sardinia, with its rugged coastline and among the most beautiful and unspoiled areas. It is also possible to spot wonderful seahorses, forests of red and yellow gorgonians, sponges, starfish, and fortunately still a few Pinna nobilis, the large endangered bivalve of EU interest.
This stretch of sea is also within the Pelagos Cetacean Sanctuary, among whose waves it is possible to admire the dance of dolphins, sperm whales, and minke whales, but also to cross specimens of sea turtles and perhaps be lucky enough to spot the very rare monk seal, the “boi marinu” in Sardinian.
The coast of Sardinia, which stretches from La Maddalena to L’Asinara, via Santa Teresa di Gallura, Capo Testa and Porto Torres, is affected by the important flow of migratory birds moving between Europe and Africa, with rare seabirds such as the greater shearwater, Corsican seagull, stormbird and tufted marangoni being used here to put on a show in close contact with the sea, on whose resources they depend.
And it is precisely the importance and beauty of the marine sites of the Natura 2000 network of La Maddalena Archipelago National Park that spurred the event organized by Federparchi and Lipu, the project leader and partner, respectively, which took place on June 15 in La Maddalena. This event was followed by another, also organized by Lipu, on June 17 between Isola Mal di Ventre and Catalano, in the beautiful Gulf of Oristano, within the Natura 2000 site of the same name. Closing the series of events was a final participatory meeting organized by Federparchi on Tuesday, June 20, at Asinara National Park in Porto Torres.
