The fourth edition of M.A.R.E. project (Marine Adventure for Research & Education), promoted by the Fondazione Centro Velico Caprera in scientific collaboration with One Ocean Foundation, has just come to a close.

The 2025 edition marks a historic milestone: the health status of the Mediterranean Sea and its biodiversity has now been comprehensively analyzed. This achievement comes after four years of navigation, data collection, and multidisciplinary work, resulting in an unprecedented snapshot of the current condition of our sea.

Since the beginning, the project’s objectives have included the monitoring of persistent pollutants, trace metals, and marine species at risk or lacking data, along with the hosting of international researchers on board with dedicated projects. Over the years, M.A.R.E. has established itself as a traveling scientific laboratory, capable of combining research, environmental education, and collaboration between public institutions, foundations, and private entities.

This year, 19 researchers from national and international universities boarded the vessel, joined by explorers and artists — all united by a deep respect for and shared passion for the sea.

Highlighting the strategic importance of the work carried out, Riccardo Bonadeo, President of One Ocean Foundation, commented:

“With the completion of the mapping of the entire Mediterranean basin, including the seas of Greece, an important chapter of Project M.A.R.E. comes to a close — but at the same time, a new phase of discoveries and collaborations begins. After four years of intense work, we can proudly say we have reached a scientific milestone without precedent, accompanied by increasing public engagement in marine awareness and protection. Research is essential, but without education and widespread awareness, there can be no true conservation.”

The scientific dimension remains central in the words of Ginevra Boldrocchi, scientific coordinator of the project and researcher at the University of Insubria:

“The data collected during the M.A.R.E. 2025 mission once again confirm the scientific value of this project: over 80 individual sightings, 10 samples of environmental DNA, 54 zooplankton samples, and 52 acoustic recordings provide a valuable foundation for the analyses to come. With this edition, we conclude the first cycle of an ambitious project: for the first time, we will have access to up-to-date data, collected consistently across nearly the entire Mediterranean. After years of fragmented and hard-to-compare information, this will finally allow us to accurately assess the current level of pollution in our sea, filling an important gap in scientific literature. This result has been made possible by the continuous and synergistic work carried out over the past four years, integrating research, monitoring, and public engagement.”