MBNMS & Genoa Aquarium Collaboration

International Studies and Collaborative Management Program

Bill Douros, MBNMS Superintendent, will be in Italy for a six-month assignment as part of the newly developed International Studies and Collaborative Management Program for our National Marine Sanctuary Program (NMSP). The new initiative, a component of the NMSP’s international program, seeks to send a senior sanctuary manager/superintendent, or HQ branch chief, every year or two to another country for 6-12 months to evaluate and learn how that country (ies) manages its marine resources. Bill’s assignment will be to further develop the partnership that sanctuaries and the National Ocean Service have been cultivating for a few years.

Bill will be working with and at the Acquario di Genova (Genoa Aquarium), in northern Italy, to study and learn how Italian’s manage their national marine sanctuaries and parks. He will also be seeking to bring to his Italian counterparts those programs that the NMSP does well that may assist their management. Also, he will be further refining potential partnerships with aquariums in Italy who may be interested in hosting the “telepresence” project with Mystic Aquarium and the NMSP which presently sends signals from the four cameras in the MBNMS to host locations.

The Acquario di Genova, located in Genoa, Italy, opened to the public in October 1993. The Aquarium attracts 1,200,000 visitors a year and is the largest aquarium in Europe. The Aquarium strives to educate and create public awareness related to marine conservation and sensible management of aquatic environments. Bill will be working with Dr. Antonio Di Natale, the science director at the Acquario di Genova. Dr. Di Natale and others at the Aquarium have been involved in the network of marine parks around Liguria (the coastal region in northwest Italy) and other marine protection initiatives in Italy.

The NMSP encourages members of the public who might be interested in these international initiatives to occasionally come to this website and learn about how the assignment is progressing. We are interested in keeping the assignment interactive and allowing the senior person on assignment to share early thoughts about the cultures and programs of the other countries they are assigned to.

So, come back periodically as Bill updates us on the progress of his assignment to Italy.