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2023

Zooplankton as an indicator of the status of contamination of the Mediterranean Sea and temporal trends

The Mediterranean Sea has long been considered as a hotspot for chemical pollution and the only scientific evidence on the contamination status of the basin is largely outdated and limited to the local scale. This article presents a comprehensive study on the status of pollution of the Mediterranean Sea, focused on the analysis of zooplankton organisms collected in the Tyrrhenian waters as part of the M.A.R.E. Project scientific activities. The results indicate a decline in the presence of persistent organic pollutants in the seawater, but these substances remain widespread in the basin, despite being banned since the mid-1970s.

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2023

Agriculture and food Industry Review

Agricultural development is essential for achieving UN 2030 Agenda goals, including poverty reduction, food security, education, and climate resilience.
However, to meet the growing demand for food, the agri-food industry is expanding and intensifying its production, leading to huge negative environmental impacts on the ocean and its biodiversity. In this review, we explore the pressures of the agriculture and food industry on the ocean, while highlighting some of the best practices that help reduce its footprint on the marine environment.

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2023

Textile and apparel Industry Review

The fashion sector is considered one of the world’s biggest manufacturing industries, encompassing everything from textile and apparel brands to wholesalers, importers, and retailers. Unfortunately, current lifestyle and consumption trends have increased clothing production, significantly impacting marine and costal ecosystems.

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2023

Construction and building materials Industry Review

This edition examines the construction and building materials industry’s direct and indirect pressures on the ocean and highlights some of the best practices in place to alleviate the sector’s impacts on the marine environment.

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2023

Business for Ocean Sustainability - Third edition

This third edition of “Business for Ocean Sustainability” presents a never-before-seen picture of the relationship between business and ocean sustainability. It focuses on the attention of companies towards marine and coastal ecosystems, both in terms of awareness of their pressures and the actions taken to address them. Furthermore, it goes beyond the risk mitigation perspective, showing how companies can create value by addressing ocean-related challenges through investments in innovative nature- and technology-based ocean protection and restoration solutions.

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2023

Aquaculture Industry Review

Today, about 50 per cent of aquatic food consumed by people is farmed, and aquaculture is projected to provide two-thirds of the global seafood supply destined for human consumption by 2030. Given the rising importance of the sector, it is essential to ensure that aquaculture operations are conducted in a sustainable manner.

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2023

Fishing Industry Review

The fishing industry plays an essential role for human population: in addition to the nutritional and dietary values of seafood, the economic value of the fishing industry is paramount not only for communities living in coastal areas but also for those living inland. Nevertheless, fishing operations have several impacts on the health of the ocean that can lead to long-term and irreversible damages.

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2023

Oil and gas Industry Review

The oil and gas industry is one of the sectors analysed within the Ocean Disclosure Initiative (ODI) project. The present review analyzes and discusses the main pressures exerted on marine ecosystems.

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2023

Playing “hide and seek” with the Mediterranean monk seal: a citizen science dataset reveals its distribution from molecular traces (eDNA)

The Monk Seal, Monachus monachus, is one of the world's most endangered species of pinniped. Monitoring its population and distribution is quite difficult because there have been very few direct observations in the past decade. This article focused on environmental DNA analyses to detect the presence of the species in 120 locations of the Mediterranean Sea. Results establish the presence of M. monachus in the central and western Mediterranean Basin, suggesting that these locations are being used as site for resting or hunting ground.

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2022

Business for Ocean Sustainability - Scientific Paper

The study examines a large sample of 1664 companies—69 directly working in the ocean economy—distributed across 19 industrial sectors exploring awareness and activations regarding direct and indirect pressures on the ocean, their responses to these pressures, and the disclosure tools used. In particular the paper explored their accountability and disclosure practices on sustainable development goals (SDGs) using the drivers, pressures, state, welfare, and response accounting framework.

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2021

Legacy and emerging contaminants in the endangered filter feeder basking shark Cetorhinus Maximus

The basking shark is the world's second largest fish species with a circumglobal distribution in temperate waters. This filter-feeder is susceptible to several threats and considered Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. An increasing body of ecological research on this species is being collected at the worldwide level, but information about its status of contamination is scarce. Being particularly prone to bioaccumulation of contaminants, it is important to study pollutants in sharks so as to understand the decline in their populations.

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2021

Data-mining social media platforms highlights conservation action for the Mediterranean Critically Endangered blue shark "Prionace Glauca"

The blue shark has recently been listed as Critically Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. This species has estimated to have undergone a 90% decline over 3 generations in the Mediterranean Sea, and thus its protection should be prioritized. However, at present, there is still a gap in knowledge concerning the species ecology.

To compensate for such a paucity of information, this study investigated the use of social media content as a complementary approach to evaluate the distribution and habitat use of blue sharks in coastal waters.

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2021

Exploring the possibility of detecting rare vertebrates' presence by means of eDNA analysis in the Caprera Canyon: a high biodiversity hotspot

In this study, we use environmental DNA analysis in order to detect rare species of marine mammals and to evaluate their spatiotemporal distribution in an area biologically important due to the bathymetric conformation of the sea bottom, the Caprera Canyon. The focus is on two marine mammal species of conservation interest that are too evasive to be monitored using a traditional, visual approach: the Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) and the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus).

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2021

Ocean Disclosure Initiative

The Ocean Disclosure Initiative is an ocean-focused framework and methodology that addresses the most significant pressures exerted by each industry on marine ecosystems. It is science-based, consistent with a sustainability risk management approach, multi-stakeholder and aligned with existing initiatives. With the Ocean Disclosure Initiative companies, the scientific and financial communities, and civil society can rely on a common language to address and mitigate the most relevant direct and indirect pressures that humanity exerts on the ocean.

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2020

Business for Ocean Sustainability - Focus On the Fashion Industry

This study deep-dives into a specific industrial sector: the fashion industry. It uses an in-depth analysis of the sustainability reports of 28 major fashion companies. The report offers a snapshot of the fashion industry’s main pressures on the environment and, more specifically, on marine ecosystems, and provides a clear view of sustainable best practices along the value chain.

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2020

Business for Ocean Sustainability - Second edition

This report broadens the perspective of our analysis and contributes to better understanding global trends with regard to ocean-based sectors and other inland industries. It involves international companies, which together account for about 50% of total market capitalization and analyzes how they act in terms of environmental sustainability. The research maps their level of awareness and action on issues related to the preservation of marine environments.

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2019

Business for Ocean Sustainability - First edition

This report is focused on how companies can contribute to the sustainability of the Mediterranean Sea. The research extends the traditional boundaries of analysis in order to include not only the direct, but also the indirect pressures determined by production and consumption activities on marine and coastal ecosystems.

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