Sea Use Map: Gis Supporting Marine Area’s Sustainable Development

Abstract

The coastal zone is characterised by diversified physical and ecological conditions that allow the multiple use of natural resources. The overlap of very different uses generates conflict inducing habitat depletion and damage to natural systems. To face the problem of "conflict of use" of the coastal areas, we developed an integrated system as a working tool, the Sea Use Map (SUM), aimed to the characterization of the different values and uses of the marine resource, useful to explore further marine uses, such as suitable sites for marine renewable energy production, productive activities, etc. For this reason, the creation of an integrated GIS database, in which the information is conveyed in a geo-referenced system, is the necessary tool to support maritime spatial planning. The SUM of Italy is a key database, in which coastal uses are integrated with environmental data (seabed morphology, waves, currents, fauna, flora, etc.). Further integration between data and simulations of numerical models allows to define the most promising and ecologically acceptable areas for the introduction of new uses in view of the compatible development of the sea and marine resources. This paper presents a pilot application study in the coastal area between Capo Anzio and Tarquinia (Italy, Latium).

An integrated approach for the benthic habitat mapping based on innovative surveying technologies and ecosystem functioning measurements

“…The northern Latium coast was previously studied to assess the seabed morphology using traditional survey vessels equipped with different echosounder technologies (e.g., side-scan sonar and multibeam surveys) as well as the benthic biocenoses for the ecosystem services evaluation [e.g., 1,[38][39][40] ]. Although the use of different echosounder types allowed deep characterization of the seabed in the study area 38,40 , the seabed morphology and bottom type distribution obtained through the USV equipped with a single beam echosounder (Fig. 1) showed a substantial qualitative correspondence with these prior research works.…”