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Isola di Asinara The Ministry of Environment’s Director General of Italy’s protected area programs, Dr. Aldo Cosentino, aptly observes that coastal and marine protected areas in the United States and Italy are fundamentally different in that Italy’s coastline has been used by humans for many thousands of years and heavily developed for many hundreds of years. Most of the national marine sanctuaries in the United States typically protect areas of relative wilderness or public owned parks or protected seashores. Or they protect no coastline at all and only offshore ocean areas.
However,
Dr. Cosentino recognizes that there is at least one marine protected
area in Italy that today encompasses wilderness – the
Island of Asinara. In 1997, the government of Italy completed procedures
to close a prison on Asinara and turn the island and its many buildings
over to the national park system. In 2002, the waters offshore
of the national park were zoned and the area was instituted as
Italy’s
newest marine protected area, encompassing 49 miles of coastline
around the island and 41 square miles of its coastal waters.
There
are many species of native and introduced mammals on the island, including
horses, asses, goats, sheep, and pigs. The island’s vegetation
is an interesting mix of plants native to Sardinia, plants common
throughout the Mediterranean, or introduced plants found in other
bioregions, including North America.
There
are extensive facilities on the island, including the prison facilities,
but also small cities built for and by the inhabitants of the quarantine
camp, and for the staff servicing the camp and the prison. All of these
have been turned over to the national park, and in tandem the marine
protected area, who are sorting out which will be kept and what restoration
is needed.
For more information on Asinara Island marine protected area, go to the parks website at: http://www.parcoasinara.it/
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