FLT Mediterranean Monitoring Network - marine species and threats

The ‘Fixed Line Transect Mediterranean monitoring Network’ (FLT Med Net) is an international project coordinated by ISPRA since 2007. The project aims to coordinate in the Mediterranean marine region a continuous monitoring of mega and macro marine fauna (cetaceans, sea turtles, seabirds, and other macro marine fauna), maritime traffic and floating marine litter. The surveys are carried out systematically along 16 cross-border transects, using scheduled ferries as observation platforms. Two specific research protocols are applied for data collection on mega and macro fauna and maritime traffic, and on floating marine litter. Since 2018 a specific protocol for ferry based environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling was developed with the University of Milan Bicocca (project MeD for Med).