Untitled - CNR

The Issue of Non-Indigenous Species in ItalianCoastal Waters: the Case of Taranto Seas (IonianSea)F. Rubino, G. Fanelli, A. Petrocelli, M. Belmonte, G. Portacci, E. CecereInstitute for Coastal Marine Environment, CNR, Taranto, Italyrubino@iamc.cnr.itAbstractA non-indigenous species (NIS), is any species extraneous to the ecosystemwhere it is found. Its translocation could be either human-mediated via different vectors(e.g. import of commercial species, ballast waters) or could be the consequenceof natural active dispersal. This issue has a great relevance on a global scale: NISnow represent one of the four greatest threats to the integrity of world’s oceans. NIScan rapidly become invasive, replacing native species and changing communities’structure. Besides this, effects on human activities and health can be of outstandingrelevance. NIS can damage fishing and aquaculture and, in case of toxin producers,can cause human intoxication via consumption of contaminated seafood.In Italy this problem has been investigated in few areas particularly subject to bothintroduction and spreading of NIS. At present, we surveyed more than thirty exoticspecies in Taranto seas, but this number is constantly increasing, probably due to theexpansion of the harbour and also because the Italian laws are quite vague and thereis little control. Only the introduction of species for commercial or farming purposesare ruled and placed under a sanitary control, but the discharge of ballast waters is a“common” procedure in harbour waters.On the base of the results of a monitoring project on planktonic and benthic communities,we propose a set of rules to regulate introduction of NIS in Taranto Seas aswell as in other Mediterranean sites.1 The non-indigenousspecies (NIS)During the last 10-15 years, a new typeof pollution, the “biological” pollution [1],joined the others that are more or lesslinked to human activities in harming themarine environment.The biological pollution consists in thepresence in an area of organisms not nativeof that area, i.e. non-indigenous.These organisms, both animal and vegetalbut also viruses and bacteria, once arrivedin the new environment can settle, becominga stable component of the ecosystem.This could lead to consequences thatare generally unpredictable with changesof the structure and functioning of the receivingecosystem [2].Recently, many studies have highlightedan increase on a global scale of this phenomenon,so that we refer to it as “biologicalinvasions” [3], to indicate a massivecolonization as in the case of some algae